Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide - The Right To Die

The American Constitution does not guarantee the right to choose to die. The U.S. Supreme Court, however, recognized as of 2004 that Americans have a fundamental right to privacy, or what is sometimes called the "right to be left alone." While the right to privacy is not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution, the Supreme Court has interpreted several amendments as encompassing this right. In Roe v. Wade (410 US 113, 1973), the High Court ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment protects the right to privacy against state action, specifically a woman's right to abortion. In the landmark Karen Ann Quinlan case, the Court held that the right to privacy included the right to refuse unwanted medical treatment and, as a consequence, the right to die.