Anything that only affects our own body should be our own decision and be legal. If someone is terminally ill and is capable of speaking and says they would rather die then it should be. If someone has never spoken their opinion and they get turned into a vegetable then it should be up to the combined opinions of the doctors (If the person will ever recover) and the closest people to the person (Trying to be empathetic of the person).
This can be a tricky one. As a Christian the bible tells you that God is the only one that should take or give life so in that respect i should be strongly anti-euthanasia, but i know in my heart i would be unfaithful to that if i ever saw any of my loved ones in suffering and wanting to die so its hard to be completely against it when i know under the circumstances i would probably find myself supporting this loved one (whoever its is) if i knew it was their 100% wish to die. There are many reasons to be against it, but in the situation i dont think those reasons would even occur to you, being faced with someone who wants nothing more than to die. Being truthful, i not sure that anyone who normally has strong, unmoving anti-euthanasia views would be able to hold on to their views quite so strongly if their mother or sister or best friend was in that situation, dying slowly and in constant pain and calling out to die. No matter what your reason for being ant-euthanasia, your views would be tested.
I'm in favour of voluntary euthanasia for adults but I also think in certain circumstances parents should be allowed to consent to their newborn baby being euthanised, which I think a lot more people would have a gut reaction against. Currently for certain conditions such as the worst cases of spinal bifida - which can be treated somewhat with repeated surgeries over the course of a child's life (sometimes dozens of major operations before they are even teens), but can't be cured and the damage to their bodies and sometimes brains if they have hydrocephalus can't be reversed - it's already accepted practice to give parents the option of withholding treatment so they will die from their defects instead of having to live a miserable life. The problem is sometimes babies, even with severe birth defects, still take several weeks or even months to die this way, and it isn't legal to actively end their lives. This doesn't seem quite right, since either way the child will die, but if active euthanasia were allowed it would be a quick painless death and without they will have a slow, painful death. I don't see how it is more moral to allow a child to suffer a painful death over granting them a quick one.
You have a legal right to die. It's called suicide. Legalized euthanasia is about giving one group of people (doctors) permission to kill another group of people (patients).
You have a right to refuse medical treatment at any time. If you need a ventilator (like Christopher Reeve) to breathe, you can ask to have it removed and by law they have to honor your request. You can choose to stop taking medication. Seriously, tho, I doubt immortality will ever be your biggest problem. I wouldn't worry about it.
I don't feel like the issue of abuse, that people may pressure or push a patient into euthanasia to save on health care costs is an argument. It doesn't make sense to have a law to prevent people from being able to commit a crime. Legalize euthanasia and make abuse a crime
Why do you support non-voluntary euthanasia? I don't see this as right or just. The way I see it is it should be your own decision and if you are unable to make the decision, it should not be made. Otherwise it is stepping in the direction of the Action T4 program in Nazi Germany.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_T4) and the extermination of "Life unworthy of life", a phrase commonly used. We need to take lessons from the past from non-voluntary euthanasia and that's why I believe it should NEVER be allowed to happen again.
Euthanasia should be allowed, however there should be certain criteria for determining whether someone should carry on living or not. Often people believe they would be better off dead, when in reality they're a lot stronger than they think, and should go on living, for themselves, and those around them. If euthanasia is carried out, it should be in the form of an opiate overdose. -Matt
