Assisted dying/Euthanasia

When living becomes unbearable should adults be able to legally end it?

 

Yes.

It doesn't make sense to me that anybody thinks they have the right to tell someone else how much they can or should endure. I also believe that suicide should be decriminalized.

It also doesn't make sense that we can legally euthanize our pets when they are very old and/or very sick and animals can't talk, but a human that can talk isn't allowed to make the same choice for themselves.

Backwards.

 

Of course, but they should be given therapy first.

If all drugs were completely legal very few people would commit suicide since we have two drugs, heroin and cocaine, which are really quite effective at keeping people with chronic depression and/or intractable pain from commiting suicide. However, the politicians apparently think that people are better off dead than addicted to "hard" drugs, even though such addiction, in and of itself, is a fairly mild disorder, comparable to addiction to chocolate or caffeine and not nearly as harmful as the addiction to alcohol, which is both permitted and far less effective in combating suicide.

 

yes, as long as the person has full mental capacity.

There may be certain people who would suicide their parents just for the inheritance if the parent had say, dementia.

An anecdote would be my own Grandfather. He was 99 when he passed, had been a farmer all his life. He was going blind, hald deaf and couldn't walk. All he asked for was his shotgun so he could end it. It was heartbreaking and their was nothing anyone could do. He was in the hospital and just refused to eat - he lasted 2 weeks of torture.

So yes, If thats what someone chooses then help them

 

Yes

 

Your life is your own, and you can choose to end it whenever you want.

Any two consenting adults should be able to do anything they want in the privacy of their own home, office, rumble seat, operating room, etc... as long as they don't conspire to infringe the rights of another.

Physicians are bound by the Hippocratic oath to do no harm, so a compelling argument to show why ending your life is less harmful than not would need to be made in order to receive assistance in your suicide.

There are, of course, many DIY options available.

 

yes. absolutely. in the case of painful and incurable disease i (a cancer patient) might at some point make that decision, based on what is best for my wife.

 

Well, can we be more clear? Are you advocating for an 18-year-old depressed to choose to die?

 

I like the Oregon Death w/ Dignity Act. Perfect balance of a right to die with protections from abuse.

 

18 year olds choose to die all the time. i'd prefer they have a quiet medically induced demise than a hail of bullets after slaughtering their schoolmates. easier to harvest the organs as well.

 

Yeah? Hell no. What is wrong with America? Why is there so much antipathy to treating and healing the mentally ill?

 

it is unlikely that louisiana would pass such a law. i never thought anyone could contemplate euthanasia tourism.

may as well book the best hotel in portland and fly 1st class. visa might have a little trouble collecting the bill.

 

Yes, absolutely. Protections in place to prevent abuse, but no one has the right to tell another person that they can't choose the time of their transition.

 

Because it's hard.

 

i have no problem treating the mentally ill. many of them actually take the miracle drugs which allow them to control their destructive urges. those who choose not to do so have no sympathy and are better off someplace where they can not harm others.

 

I think a few states allow assisted suicide. I'm all for it. Dr. Kevorkian did the right thing.

 

I honestly don't know what the act has to say about out of state terminally ill patients or how long one has to live in Oregon to be considered eligable. You also may have trouble finding a doctor willing to provide the perscription on a patient out of state he barely knows. . The act specifically allows both physcians and pharmacists to decide for themselves if they are willing to aide or not. Some still feel its a breach of their oath or have a religious objection.

 

Sure. My guess is doctors facilitate a lot more than we realize already.

 

Which points to the other reason for assisted dying. To alleviate the responsibility of family members and society.

 

Yep.

My plans/preparations for if/when I’m in that position are not predicated on legality in any way.

Something being legal doesn’t necessarily mean it’s right and something being right doesn’t necessarily mean it’s legal.

But yes, it should be legal in actual cases of euthanasia.

 

“Assisted dying” already occurs. We can choose what measures are taken and doctors do administer drugs to ensue the end is comfortable.

Otherwise individuals can do whatever they want unassisted in their own homes as far as I’m concerned, but I wouldn’t support euthanasia as law. Albeit if it was legal I could envision our divorce numbers dropping appreciably

 

If we have inherent God-given rights to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness we should have the right to refuse any of those. Rights are not obligations.

 

A compassionate society would allow for a terminally ill person to end their physical suffering. It becomes far more dicey when it is a mental illness (like depression), so more investigation needs to be done on that front.

 

If it is not OK to kill a foetus, why is it OK to kill a grown adult?

 

Agreed.