Assisted Suicide when on death bed

[Sparky]

should it be made legal or not.

I myself think that it should be made legal. It's your own decision if you live or die, and if your too sick to do anything about it yourself and some one is willing to help you do it, why not. I know it may sound wrong but if someone I knew and loved was laying in the hospital just waiting out his or hers last few day, with no chance of survival and he was in so much pain he wanted it ended then and there I would do everything in my power to stop it.

granted its still taking a life but it the person was healthy enough to do it himself he would.

 

[HBK-aholic]

It should most definitely be legal. I'm welcoming the new guidelines in the UK, which state you're unlikely to be prosecuted if you act out of compassion, as opposed to acting to assist the suicide because you have something to gain. However, that's not yet enough. It is your choice whether you live or die, I've always believed that. People say suicide is the cowards way out, and maybe it is, to you. But what you see as cowardice may not be cowardice to someone else, and you have no right to force someone to live.

Moreover, people can phsyically go out and commit suicide, I dislike the idea that we can stop someone doing that if they're terminally ill, or physically disabled. If I were in that situation I'd end my life, and I should have the right to do that. Why should we have to go to Switzerland to do this? Why should relatives fear prosecution for wanting to be with me in my last moments? Assisted suicide should be regulated, but should be legal in the UK.

 

[Tastycles]

I think it's something that should be treated with a little bit of intelligence. If they made a law tomorrow that people can help their loved ones to die, I can guarantee that it would be abused. People can be easily pressed into making a decision they don't want to make, particularly the old and vulnerable. I think that they should probably make some sort of centre where people can be admitted if their doctor is satisfied that they genuinely don't want to continue with their lives, and that there really is no hope of a recovery. Should it be legal? Yes, but with strict control.

 

[BladeRunner]

It's a slippery slope.

There's another name for assisted suicide, it's called murder. And that's the whole issue.

The places where assisted suicide is legal have had all kinds of problems from it. For instance, some people were questioning the tactics of some of the clinics. In one example, a man was depressed, so he went into the clinic and offed himself. Some people questioned whether the man could have been saved or not. Some people questioned whether they gave the man enough time and asked whether they had worked with him or not with his problems.

Now this question is about assisted suicide on the death bed. And it may not offer up the same type examples as I just mentioned, but nevertheless, power over another man's life can and has been abused.

Here's another problem. Imagine you have a serial killer. Now imagine that he gets off on killing people. Well I guess we just found the perfect job for him now haven't we? You see, to him, it's murder. And he likes it. Whereas to the other person, it may be them labeling it as suicide. So which person is right?

The problem of motives is a big issue.

Does a person have a right to kill their self? Yes, because you couldn't stop them if they really wanted to go through with it. They'd find a way. (I'm not talking about the morality of it, just the right)

But when other people get involved it complicates things immensely.

I think the issue is not as black and white as people make it out to be.

 

[Razor]

I voted no.

Not because I don't think someone should be able to commit suicide, or because I don't think someone's loved ones shouldn't be able to pump them full of that morphine when the person asks them to.

It's because if Assisted Suicide is made legal, then Doctors could presumably be the ones to administer the dosage. I take exception to that. Why?

The Hippocratic Oath states that they will do no harm. No harm. Not, "I won't kill anyone until they ask me to." They are to do no harm, as in not kill people. This is a necessarily strict interpretation, because Doctors are in trusted care of millions of patients, and have the access to all kinds of drugs and chemicals that could kill them all rather efficiently. The Hippocratic Oath is there to make sure that the Doctors do no such thing, and it should be upheld at all costs. It that means that Assisted Suicide is only legalized for family members who are not doctors, then so be it.

 

[ABMorales787]

No. Its giving up hope. You could have terminal cancer or any other fatal disease the least you can do is fight back. What if a cure is found, or if something happens and you're healthier? It can happen. Assisted suicide is just as bad as regular suicide. You're giving up on life and throwing it away. The only difference is you have an accomplice. Making it legal will just give people a reason to give up when it all fails.

Doctor: "Well I can't find a cure for your AIDS. Do you wanna kill yourself?"

That doesn't sound correct does it? Sure, illness brings pain. But giving up? Passing on the slight opportunity to live on? To teach others? Any person who stands up to adversity is seen as courageous and a hero. A person that gives up, a coward.

Random Pregnant Woman: "Yeah, giving birth hurts too much. So I'll just go ahead and kill myself to avoid the pain and the bill."

Come on. With the stupid way people have been acting these days, do you really think something like this won't happen?

 

[Razor]

That doesn't sound correct does it? Sure, illness brings pain. But giving up? Passing on the slight opportunity to live on? To teach others? Any person who stands up to adversity is seen as courageous and a hero. A person that gives up, a coward.

Suicide is now cowardice? That person who suffers from years of deep depression is now a coward? That mentally ill person? Really? The person who doesn't want to put their family through years of keeping a Parkinson's Disease and Dementia sufferer alive is a coward?

Random Pregnant Woman: "Yeah, giving birth hurts too much. So I'll just go ahead and kill myself to avoid the pain and the bill."

Come on. With the stupid way people have been acting these days, do you really think something like this won't happen?

Slippery slope argument. Fail.

Allowing assisted suicides won't automatically facilitate a pregnant woman killing herself over giving birth. Don't start blowing hot air. This is no different than people yelling about pregnant women using abortion as birth control. They won't. In that same vein, people aren't going to start committing assisted suicides just because they have a broken leg. Get real.

 

[Serious Mozzarella]

I voted yes, but under heavy surveillance. This way we can weed out and at least minimize abuse of the system.

I don't think people should be forced to reconcile with not being in control of when they live or die. If doctors want to do no harm, then they don't have to administer any drugs by themselves. They can let the patient do it.

Someone wanting to take control of what is left of their lives is a big deal to most people. I vote to legalize it.

 

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

We had a huge ta-doo about this in the UK recently didn't we?

Some woman helped her niece or daughter or something kill themselves and she was arrested and charged with murder.

Then, after they heard the evidence, the judge decided that she was by no means guilty, and even asked the court why she was ever being tried in the first place.

Now, what needs to be made clear, is that while the girl in question did have an incurable disease, and they were able to prove without a shadow of a doubt that she did want to end her life (allegedly), the woman didn't consult anyone before she went ahead with it.

Now, i agree with assisted suicide, but you can't just up and do it without informing anyone i.e. the doctor of the person asking to die, because from where i sit, there is no such thing as 100% certainty, and no one will ever know for certain that someone requested an assisted suicide. So imo, the person requesting euthanasia should have to consult their doctor, AND a psychological therapist, before asking to have themselves cut off from whatever is sustaining them, and only if they see their reasons as justified should euthanasia actually be carried out.

 

[The Gribbler]

The Hippocratic Oath states that they will do no harm. No harm. Not, "I won't kill anyone until they ask me to." They are to do no harm, as in not kill people.

Do you not think that allowing the patient to live in constant pain is "Doing them harm"?

Leaving someone to die scared, in pain and hating every second of life is cruel. So is it not then under the oath of "Doing no harm" the doctors responsibility to take the course of action that would guarantee that the patient no longer feels pain?

When there is a prospect (a LEGITIMATE prospect) of recovery, then that pain is a device with which they can restore health. But without the prospect of recovery...its just torture.

Just My Opinion

 

[The Gribbler]

Now, i agree with assisted suicide, but you can't just up and do it without informing anyone i.e. the doctor of the person asking to die, because from where i sit, there is no such thing as 100% certainty, and no one will ever know for certain that someone requested an assisted suicide. So imo, the person requesting euthanasia should have to consult their doctor, AND a psychological therapist, before asking to have themselves cut off from whatever is sustaining them, and only if they see their reasons as justified should euthanasia actually be carried out.

What about patience with no brain function, who cant move, write or communicate?

Something known as Persistant Vegitative State. These people have no prospect for recovery (people say theres a chance but its so small it seems ridiculous to rely on it) but no way of telling people their desires.

It gets hazy here...but these people aren't really alive...do they too have the right to die that we all have? Or because of their condition is one of their fundamental rights stripped from them.

 

[Serious Mozzarella]

What about patience with no brain function, who cant move, write or communicate?

Something known as Persistant Vegitative State. These people have no prospect for recovery (people say theres a chance but its so small it seems ridiculous to rely on it) but no way of telling people their desires.

It gets hazy here...but these people aren't really alive...do they too have the right to die that we all have? Or because of their condition is one of their fundamental rights stripped from them.

The people who are in a vegetative state generally are held on life support. Taking patients off life support generally isn't considered euthanasia, but the other way around - keeping people alive who would otherwise be dead. The patient's family must make the decision whether or not to keep them alive, if something like that isn't explicitly stated in the will.

 

[The Gribbler]

^^

Really? It's that simple? I have heard of cases where an Australian man had to go through months of battling with courts to get his wife taken off life support as it was considered a form of euthanasia.

But maybe that had some circumstance that I am unaware of.

 

[tum922]

depending on the family of the person in the vegitative state it could be simple or difficult to get them taken off life support. Look at the terri schiavo case. Her husband had to fight with her parents for fifteen years.

Anyways i voted yes it should be legal because it should be a persons right to decide if they want to die. If i was terminally ill id just want to say goodbye and be done with it so i dont have to put my family thru all of that

 

[Cena's Little Helper]

I am at a loss as to why suicide is still such a societal taboo. Why shouldn't people have the right to kill themselves? Also, why shouldn't they have access to non-painful means to kill themselves?

There are some cases where we should frown upon suicide (namely, breadwinners taking their own lives when they have a family to think about), but I'd appreciate it if someone could cite some demographic statistics on suicide. I'd conjecture that the majority of suicide cases are single persons who have no hope and who are either young adults or senior citizens.