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Euthanasia: Do you support it or against it?

Euthanasis

  • Total voters
    45
Catman said:
The answer is yes, as long as the family members are behind it, or the person involved is of sound mind. Under no circumstances should the decision be left to government.
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Shades of Soylent Green.
 
I believe in physician assisted euthanasia. You own your body, you are not property of the state.
 
earthworm said:
And yet man's grandest structures house or honor the dead.
Ever wonder why ?
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No i don't wonder why really. I think we just drift off into the night and are gone. People hold us here by memory and someday that too will fade into sweet oblivion. I am not an afterlife kind of person. I get the idea that when we are dead we are dead.
 
Inferno said:
No i don't wonder why really. I think we just drift off into the night and are gone. People hold us here by memory and someday that too will fade into sweet oblivion. I am not an afterlife kind of person. I get the idea that when we are dead we are dead.
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A lot of people are terrified of that prospect and I really don't know why. It kind of sounds nice.
 
Assisted euthanasia should be legal but it should have stringent oversight. However, "euthanizing" a comatose or brain-dead person without their consent should be illegal; that's murder.
 
Jerry said:
If you found yourself with a serious medical condition which would jeprodise your life if you carried your pregnancey to term, would you want the ability to abort?

30+ years later we have elective abortion for any or no reason. I hope you can apreciate my hesitence in suporting any such 'right to die' law.
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I like the question you pose. I am lesbian and would never be pregnant and never wanted to be. But I felt the need to look at your question as you asked it so nicely.

I am pro choice. I if i had ever been pregnant would under no circumstances had an abortion. I never would have done that. If in fact I found that it was me or the fetus or baby. I would be the one that would have to be sacrificed. I mean that sincerely.

If I became so impaired as to feel helpless I would wish to die and would in fact find a way to make that happen.
 
dclxvinoise said:
A lot of people are terrified of that prospect and I really don't know why. It kind of sounds nice.
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I don't understand why they would be afraid of. I am aging and not doing it very well. Sucks to be me. I have a lot of health issues that has limited me to some extent but I still retain the faculties that allow me to be me. I am not in any severe pain so I go onward. I have no desire to sit in a chair drooling while someone changes my diaper thank you very much. I would much rather have the dignity of death surrounded by loved ones and friends as we celebrate what we shared in life together. A nice meal a glass of wine some good sharing a hug and kiss good bye and sleep the rest of everland awaits me.
 
it should be legal, but with strong regulations to prevent abuse of the system.
 
FallingPianos said:
it should be legal, but with strong regulations to prevent abuse of the system.
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The main obstical I see with any such regulation is the inherant dificulty in assessing pain. This problem is persistant throughout current pain-management treatment. Pain has proven to be to subjective and unverifyable to accuretly gage to an objective degree.

In any such law, a lot of leeway would have to be given to the patient, so much leeway, IMO, as to minimise or even negate the profesional opinion of the doctor.

This is where there would be room for abuse.
 
If a person is terminally ill, mentally competent to make the decision, and in pain...then yes.

If a person is just depressed, mentally impaired (in some cases), or not in pain...then no.

Ethereal said:
Assisted euthanasia should be legal but it should have stringent oversight. However, "euthanizing" a comatose or brain-dead person without their consent should be illegal; that's murder.
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An important distinction to make here: Generally if a person is comatose or braindead, you don't have to euthanize them. Just remove life support and they'll die on their own.
 
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Jerry said:
The main obstical I see with any such regulation is the inherant dificulty in assessing pain. This problem is persistant throughout current pain-management treatment. Pain has proven to be to subjective and unverifyable to accuretly gage to an objective degree.

In any such law, a lot of leeway would have to be given to the patient, so much leeway, IMO, as to minimise or even negate the profesional opinion of the doctor.

This is where there would be room for abuse.
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Would pain be the only factor. I see more than that. I would say pain would be a biggie, but for me it would be inability to function at a certain level.

That would be as much a factor as the pain.

i do agree that the hospital or facility should be aware of the persons wishes before hand.
 
Inferno said:
The idea of Euthanasia.

If you found yourself terminally ill and there was discomfort and the expenses were rising. The care and visitation is getting tough on the family.

Do you think that Euthanasia should be legal? Do you think that it should be there if you need it?
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I think there are ground rules that must be made. Unless one is unable to give consent it should always be up to the person whose life will be taken and not their family. If it is certain that one will die and are unable to give consent then I suppose it should be the families call.
 
TM2 said:
I think there are ground rules that must be made. Unless one is unable to give consent it should always be up to the person whose life will be taken and not their family. If it is certain that one will die and are unable to give consent then I suppose it should be the families call.
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I would almost think that one should have made prearrangement's. Sort of a power of attorney. Like this: In the event that I am in such and such condition this is what i would like done. That is if the person is incapable of response at the time.
 
Inferno said:
I would almost think that one should have made prearrangement's. Sort of a power of attorney. Like this: In the event that I am in such and such condition this is what i would like done. That is if the person is incapable of response at the time.
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Consider this personal but true story:

7 months ago my sister had brain surgery. While in recovery she was in excruciating pain. Since the exect procedure to extract the tumors was experimental (going in through the nose instead of the base of the scull) there was little the doctors could do to ease her pain. Most pain medications would complicate the other medications in place to help her recovery or inflame her head causing breathing problems.

My sister is as born-again Christain as you can imagin, and begged for death.

My father was with her, as her medical proxy and general power of aturney. He had both my sister's, the atending phisitions's and the law's expressed written permission to euthenise her in the event of unbearable pain.

Place yourself in her shoes for a moment. You know this was a posability going in, and dispite your strong religious beliefs you allowed the posability to be put down if the pain was just to much.

The pain has exeeded your worst fears, the doctor, aturney and your medical proxy are there in the room with you, ready to dispence the medication that will end it all.

With tears you beg to die....


...but your medical proxy refuses.

***

7 months later my sister is greatfull to be alive and enjoys her doughters in ways she can't discribe. She aproaches life with new eyes, both metiforicly and literaly, as one of the miricles of her operation was regaining sight in an eye that has been blinde from birth.
 
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Inferno said:
The idea of Euthanasia.

If you found yourself terminally ill and there was discomfort and the expenses were rising. The care and visitation is getting tough on the family.

Do you think that Euthanasia should be legal? Do you think that it should be there if you need it?
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I think it should be legal. You have to be careful because people going through a bout of depression may want to off themselves temporarily...so you gotta have some form of system in place to screen for that. No point killing someone who would have been perfectly happy living in a few months when they got the help they needed for a mental illness. But other than that, if someone truly just wants to die, it's not my place to say no.
 
Inferno said:
I would almost think that one should have made prearrangement's. Sort of a power of attorney. Like this: In the event that I am in such and such condition this is what i would like done. That is if the person is incapable of response at the time.
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of course. I dunno if anyone else should have the power to decide that for you though, like if you don't have a legal document and its up to the family. Should they make the decision? What do you think?
 
I'm against it. I think if it were to become more available, depressed people would immediately turn to it, and as a result, die from it. I know sometimes people are incurably depressed, but I've been depressed for a long period of time before (3-4 months), and I'm not even gonna lie, I thought about killing myself. Eventually, things turned around and all thoughts of suicide left and haven't come back.

If I had been in a position where I could go to a doctor to die, and I wasn't a minor (I'm sure kids wouldn't be able to just apply for termination), I probably would have considered Euthanasia as a means of getting out of depression, and out of life. If that would have been the way things worked out (me dying with medical assistance), I wouldn't be here today posting on this forum. I wouldn't be around in a few years when hopefully I'll be in college, advancing my education. I wouldn't be around 10-15 years from now, when hopefully I'll be a husband and father.

I'm not sure depressed/sick people are well enough mentally to make decisions like that, and for that reason I say no to Euthanasia. I think it's best for everyone if it's unavailable.
 
Jerry said:
Consider this personal but true story:

7 months ago my sister had brain surgery. While in recovery she was in excruciating pain. Since the exect procedure to extract the tumors was experimental (going in through the nose instead of the base of the scull) there was little the doctors could do to ease her pain. Most pain medications would complicate the other medications in place to help her recovery or inflame her head causing breathing problems.

My sister is as born-again Christain as you can imagin, and begged for death.

My father was with her, as her medical proxy and general power of aturney. He had both my sister's, the atending phisitions's and the law's expressed written permission to euthenise her in the event of unbearable pain.

Place yourself in her shoes for a moment. You know this was a posability going in, and dispite your strong religious beliefs you allowed the posability to be put down if the pain was just to much.

The pain has exeeded your worst fears, the doctor, aturney and your medical proxy are there in the room with you, ready to dispence the medication that will end it all.

With tears you beg to die....


...but your medical proxy refuses.

***

7 months later my sister is greatfull to be alive and enjoys her doughters in ways she can't discribe. She aproaches life with new eyes, both metiforicly and literaly, as one of the miricles of her operation was regaining sight in an eye that has been blinde from birth.
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Of course a powerful story. So many things with it to be considered. I made the point to say there is more than pain to be considered. Pain is absolutely a reason to consider euthanasia. Becoming invalid in some such way is to be considered as well.

If I made that decision I would not expect my medical proxy to have to make such decision if I were aware. That would have been my call. If they were ready I would have asked what the result would the pain subside. If they could not answer the question I would have been dead now. If the pain were momentary I would have dealt with that..

If were not capable of saying yes or no. My proxy would have done what they thought best in the situation. She would have put me down..
 
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Ikari said:
I think it should be legal. You have to be careful because people going through a bout of depression may want to off themselves temporarily...so you gotta have some form of system in place to screen for that. No point killing someone who would have been perfectly happy living in a few months when they got the help they needed for a mental illness. But other than that, if someone truly just wants to die, it's not my place to say no.
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TM2 said:
of course. I dunno if anyone else should have the power to decide that for you though, like if you don't have a legal document and its up to the family. Should they make the decision? What do you think?
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A legal framework needs to be set up to deal with this. Eventually this will become a problem.I believe that this will be legal someday.
 
LakeCharlesGuy said:
I'm against it. I think if it were to become more available, depressed people would immediately turn to it, and as a result, die from it. I know sometimes people are incurably depressed, but I've been depressed for a long period of time before (3-4 months), and I'm not even gonna lie, I thought about killing myself. Eventually, things turned around and all thoughts of suicide left and haven't come back.

If I had been in a position where I could go to a doctor to die, and I wasn't a minor (I'm sure kids wouldn't be able to just apply for termination), I probably would have considered Euthanasia as a means of getting out of depression, and out of life. If that would have been the way things worked out (me dying with medical assistance), I wouldn't be here today posting on this forum. I wouldn't be around in a few years when hopefully I'll be in college, advancing my education. I wouldn't be around 10-15 years from now, when hopefully I'll be a husband and father.

I'm not sure depressed/sick people are well enough mentally to make decisions like that, and for that reason I say no to Euthanasia. I think it's best for everyone if it's unavailable.
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I don't think depression would qualify as an illness that would require euthanasia. This is speaking of terminal illness where the physical aliment will be taking the life in a given period of time anyway. This would just hurry up the process.
 
Jerry said:
Consider this personal but true story:

7 months ago my sister had brain surgery. While in recovery she was in excruciating pain. Since the exect procedure to extract the tumors was experimental (going in through the nose instead of the base of the scull) there was little the doctors could do to ease her pain. Most pain medications would complicate the other medications in place to help her recovery or inflame her head causing breathing problems.

My sister is as born-again Christain as you can imagin, and begged for death.

My father was with her, as her medical proxy and general power of aturney. He had both my sister's, the atending phisitions's and the law's expressed written permission to euthenise her in the event of unbearable pain.

Place yourself in her shoes for a moment. You know this was a posability going in, and dispite your strong religious beliefs you allowed the posability to be put down if the pain was just to much.

The pain has exeeded your worst fears, the doctor, aturney and your medical proxy are there in the room with you, ready to dispence the medication that will end it all.

With tears you beg to die....


...but your medical proxy refuses.

***

7 months later my sister is greatfull to be alive and enjoys her doughters in ways she can't discribe. She aproaches life with new eyes, both metiforicly and literaly, as one of the miricles of her operation was regaining sight in an eye that has been blinde from birth.
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Of course everyone is greatful that your sister is alive, but it would have been just as understandable if her life had been ended... and we wouldn't be looking back on it retrospectively and talking about how good it was that the call wasn't made.

Also, your sister is a bit different than the cases I have in mind. She was undergoing an experimental procedure which caused the pain. I'm talking about terminal illness that involves extreme pain, no hope of recovery or cure, and gradual loss of dignity.
 
Inferno said:
Of course a powerful story. So many things with it to be considered. I made the point to say there is more than pain to be considered. Pain is absolutely a reason to consider euthanasia. Becoming invalid in some such way is to be considered as well.

If I made that decision I would not expect my medical proxy to have to make such decision if I were aware. That would have been my call. If they were ready I would have asked what the result would the pain subside. If they could not answer the question I would have been dead now. If the pain were momentary I would have dealt with that..

If were not capable of saying yes or no. My proxy would have done what they thought best in the situation. She would have put me down..
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That's what my sister though my father would do, also, but in the moment he couldn't give the order to kill his doughter.

I would like to highlight the fact that when in so much pain, you are not legal capable of consent. If you have firm instructions to be killed, or to be kept alive, you MUST understand that even with a living will, your wishes may not be carried out.
 
Orius said:
Of course everyone is greatful that your sister is alive, but it would have been just as understandable if her life had been ended... and we wouldn't be looking back on it retrospectively and talking about how good it was that the call wasn't made.

Also, your sister is a bit different than the cases I have in mind. She was undergoing an experimental procedure which caused the pain. I'm talking about terminal illness that involves extreme pain, no hope of recovery or cure, and gradual loss of dignity.
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Hence my Roe-v-Wade refrence earlier.

This will not stop at terminal illness. This will progress to at-will suicide just as Roe progressed from medical nisecity to at-will abortion.

At-will suicide is the logical consiquence of 'the right to die'.

Please don't limit the scope of what this issue conserns to only what you personaly feel comfortable considering. If you do not support at-will suicide, you can not support any such right-to-law in good conscience.
 
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Im still a bit tossed in the air on this one, i completely support a persons right to decide their fate and removing government from that decision, but the Christian and humanitarian in me just hates to see someone end their life. I dunno i picked I am not certain, the jury of my brain is still out on this one..
 
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