Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide

What is your position?

Should the government have a say in suicide whether it's assisted or not?

 

I think it's cruel to prevent paralysed people who wish to die from being able to do so. On the other hand, where can you draw the line?

 

Why paralyzed people?

Shouldn't anyone who wishes to end their life be able to?
If they request assistance is that murder?

 

What I meant was, people who wish to die but are unable to take their lives themselves due to some form of paralysis.

 

This is precisely the logical conclusion of allowing doctors to dispense poison to people whose lives are deemed unworthy of living. If death is the answer to suffering, then why not turn suicide prevention hotlines into "how to" call centers?

Disability rights groups are keenly aware of the implications of legalizing euthanasia:

http://www.notdeadyet.org

Fortunately, the American medical profession has so far resisted the movement to grant doctors licenses to kill:

http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/full/135/3/209

 

I think people should be legally allowed to take their own life as long as they can pay for their own burial. Don't mooch off the government and expect taxpayers to foot the bill. For those who commit suicide and can't pay to bury themselves should just be thrown in a hole with the other dead beats.

 

Here's what I think is a balanced look at the issue:

www.balancedpolitics.org/assisted_suicide.htm

 

we'd done a small research in the dutchlands about legalizing euthanasia within the EU. I'm for legalizing it but under super strict conditions because then all muslims and africans with serious illness would suddenly die in hospitals.

 

Potential for abuse would be my only major concern with this...

 

In the US, there is a huuuuge gap in cancer treatment expenditures between African Americans and Whites. And you know which side is the "wrong born" side.

 

Ya, in this country the more money you have the more right to life you have.

 

We're not talking about "right to life" here, we're talking about right to death.

Is there such a thing?

Should there be legally?

Should the government be able to obstruct "right to death"?

 

I think I've already answered these questions. What are your thoughts?

 

I know you have, I was trying to get other points of view expressed.

Me?

I'm bipolar, suicidal thoughts plague me.

Personally I would not because of the effect on my family (especially my son) and socially I think suicide (assisted or not) is an indicator of a troubled society.

Philosophically though i believe a person's life is their own to keep or lose as they wish.

So to answer your question, I don't know.:H

 

I don't know there is a right answer to this one. Theoretically I'm all for it. But having been beside people who are dying (and watched them die in some cases) there is something about the will of the soul to live that never ceases. One of my major concerns would be the fact that it is such an irreversible step. What happens if the person who is having this done decides just as they are pumped full of drugs that they do want to live? Personally I wouldn't want to be the one assisting someone to die. There would be too many demons to ponder late at nite.

 

Shane,

I don't want to bombard you with links, but you might find these worth considering:

http://www.nightingalealliance.org/pdf/Netherlands_Report_to_House.pdf

http://www.nightingalealliance.org/pdf/Lessons_from_History.pdf

 

If somebody wants to die, let them die, but the government shouldn't be paying for it. Let doctors tell people how to kill themselves or just do it themselves. The government's job isn't to tell people to live lives that they don't want to. Just make sure there's a wavier first, or else we'd be facing a lot more malpractice suits.....

 

Thanks, I'll read up.

 

Shane,

You might also want to check these out:

http://www.ortl.org/life_in_oregon/03_06/license.html

http://www.lifenews.com/bio406.html

The first is about the emerging "futile care" policies that hospitals are adopting in order to deny even basic care to patients whose lives they deem unworthy, and the second is about a recent study showing how legalized assisted suicide in Oregon has negatively impacted palliative and hospice are for the terminally ill.

 

I am glad you posted this. I was just going to ask about Oregon.

Assisted suicide happens often, despite being illegal. The advantage to legalizing it would be the open exchange of information it would create among providers. I am concerned, though, on the effect of a patients treatment, abuse of the option, and the potential of future cures which could potentially restore quality of life. I don't know what to think of assisted suicide. I did a presentation on it several years ago, but my knowledge on the subject is now dated.

If I was in the final stages of life, dying of cancer or something of that nature, and may be in pain but unable to communicate, I would prefer my doctor to give me too much pain medication, and risk death, rather that not give enough, leaving me to linger and suffer. It gets much more complicated, though, when diseases such as parkinsons and ALS are considered.