Abstract
The last moments of our earthly career, the moments of transition from life to death, present a solemn and direful spectacle. To employ means to keep the dying individual a little longer on life's shore, or to hasten his "shuffling off this mortal coil," is a question which frequently confronts the physician. We are aware that death does not always come gently, "as light winds, wandering through groves of bloom, detach the delicate blossoms from the tree." Most men die from violence or disease; euthanasia is a rarity. Indeed, it is so rare that the afflictions of only a few organs or structures may bring about this kind of dissolution. We refer to organic cardiac diseases and cerebral apoplexy. The term "euthanasia" has been variously defined, and is still a word of considerable controversy; so much so that "euphoria" was taken to be its synonym, and in a measure, perhaps,
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