I'd also appreciate any statistics surrounding the countries that legalized a "right to die".
I have no data on other countries, but the "movement" for Right to Die started in 1906, when the first bill was proposed in Ohio. It got turned down pretty quickly. Then it was pretty uneventful until 1975, when Karen Ann Quinlan lost the ability to breathe on her own after coming home drunk one night. Her family made the case that if she could, she would have chose n to be takd n off of life support. The case went until 1976, and the court ruled in the family's favor. She didn't actually die though, she just started breathing on her own, which is pretty crazy, but doesn't really make a difference on the impact of the court case. As for when it became controversial, well, most likely since the beginning but it was first recognized by the church in 1957. Here's some more information on Karen Ann Quinlan and the views of the church on Right to Die, which I found pretty interesting myself, and I think its worth a read if you want the oppositions opinion.