Euthanasia For or Against?

[stewart38]

As it would in Norway, too. But it still happens, and is highly illegal. Still stick to my opinion on the subject, though. And I'm still happy the person I mentioned was granted her wish, despite it being illegal.

And yes, there's a huge difference in switching off a life support machine and giving someone drugs to kill them. I hope someone would help me get those drugs, though, if I was ever in the situation described earlier.

If a man kills his wife of 40yrs. he has seen her in pain for yrs there is no cure and its what she wants and she is rational. perhaps he gives her 15 times the dose of a pain killer she requires

Should he been thrown in jail of course not ! No one can judge things like that unless you go through it

Im not saying there are easy boundaries or black and white .

I still believe if you start legalising killing you go down a merky path regardless of good intentions, could be wrong of course.

If someone was to help you 'get those drugs' I assume you mean with doctors consent ?

Or should we have if your sane the right to die even if a doctor thinks you could live a few more years with drugs , it gets messy

[Little Monkey]

If a man kills his wife of 40yrs. he has seen her in pain for yrs there is no cure and its what she wants and she is rational. perhaps he gives her 15 times the dose of a pain killer she requires

Should he been thrown in jail of course not ! No one can judge things like that unless you go through it

Im not saying there are easy boundaries or black and white .

I still believe if you start legalising killing you go down a merky path regardless of good intentions, could be wrong of course.

If someone was to help you 'get those drugs' I assume you mean with doctors consent ?

Or should we have if your sane the right to die even if a doctor thinks you could live a few more years with drugs , it gets messy

Sorry, I get a bit lost trying to read your message...

I'm not talking about changing laws, or discusing what's right and wrong. I'm simply stating my personal feelings on the subject. The legal and ethical issues concerning this subject are so complex, and I don't think people will ever agree on them. I'm saying nothing about legalising killing.

[Piglet]

The definition of quality of life would be?

Off of the top of my head, quality of life to me is being able to:
do things for myself and live independently;
communicate for myself;
transport myself from one place to another.

If my quality of life became such that I:
was dependent on a carer for everything;
could not communicate in any way through speech or computerised
communication programs or basic grunting or body movements;
could not move one part of my body, never mind operate a computerised
wheelchair;
then I would happily sign something opting that my life be ended and of course I would sign it now whilst I could - if it were possible to!

Not for those left behind. Someone would have to take the blame for the error.
Entrance the legal system and disciplinary committees and litigation and...

I can't ever see me being in a position to ask some close friend or family member to do the dirty deed, cos in my book that wouldn't be a bad enough "quality of life" and I would never impose on someone in such a way.

However, I cannot understand the problems with legallising it (perhaps I'm too simple?) I can't see why it's such a big problem - surely it could be done legally, with medical people involved - each case handled sensitively and on an individual basis - make it the responsibility of a number of medical people (at least 3, but go as far as a dozen if you like) and therefore if they all agree then there is no blame - but only if the individual involved has signed something legally first! I'd do it tomorrow if I could.

[David Bailey]

However, I cannot understand the problems with legallising it (perhaps I'm too simple?) I can't see why it's such a big problem - surely it could be done legally, with medical people involved - each case handled sensitively and on an individual basis - make it the responsibility of a number of medical people (at least 3, but go as far as a dozen if you like) and therefore if they all agree then there is no blame - but only if the individual involved has signed something legally first! I'd do it tomorrow if I could.

As I said at the start, my two problems with changing the law would be the possibility of error (let's try to avoid a system which allows irreversible mistakes), and avoidance of undue pressure (on ill people and their families to take the "easy" route).

In other words, I don't want a state-sanctioned system which promotes killing of people, even under the most exceptional of circumstances. I'd rather there always be an institutional legal bias against such killings.

[David Bailey]

I just saw something on the local news - here's the BBC article - about a father who's being charged with murdering his 10-year-old son (Jacob Wragg), who was severely disabled.

The father's defence is that is was a "mercy killing". He's being tried for murder - he admits manslaughter.

Obviously a difficult case - as these always are - but frankly this is a spookily-relevant example of why I'm glad we don't have a strongly euthanasia-tolerant society.

[Piglet]

I just saw something on the local news - here's the BBC article - about a father who's being charged with murdering his 10-year-old son (Jacob Wragg), who was severely disabled.

I can see your point and the way the article is written makes it sound particularly nastily planned, which may or may not be the case.

If I add to what I wrote above - that the person who has elected a euthanasia option if "quality of life has degenerated" has got to be a recognised adult in the eyes of the law, then the case quoted above would not be covered from my logical viewpoint. I admit it does get tricky when involving children.

In no way am I advocating that any person can choose euthanasia for another though. It has to be an individual's decision and one I would happily make now if it were available to me to do so.

[Beowulf]

if I was terminally ill and/or my mind was going (dementia/ alzheimer's / stroke etc) then I'd want to be able to pull the plug before I got any worse.

of course, by that stage I may not be deemed to be in a sound state of mind to make that descision so I should be able to have soem sort of Living will that states should my quality of life drop so that I can't do x,y or z then I should be ..erm.. well removed from the equation.

Pain I don't mind.. but I wouldn't want to become a burden on anyone.. wouldn't want to lose me.. All I have is my thoughts, my memories and my ideas.. if they start to fade then I'm dead already. no point keeping the old meat sack ticking over if the computer's fried.

[Dreadful Scathe]

1) Free cheesecake for all

2) what DavidJames said

[whitetiger1518]

if I was terminally ill and/or my mind was going (dementia/ alzheimer's / stroke etc) then I'd want to be able to pull the plug before I got any worse.

of course, by that stage I may not be deemed to be in a sound state of mind to make that descision so I should be able to have soem sort of Living will that states should my quality of life drop so that I can't do x,y or z then I should be ..erm.. well removed from the equation.

Pain I don't mind.. but I wouldn't want to become a burden on anyone.. wouldn't want to lose me.. All I have is my thoughts, my memories and my ideas.. if they start to fade then I'm dead already. no point keeping the old meat sack ticking over if the computer's fried.

- Particularly the bit I put in bold ... Ooh -scary - I'm agreeing with Beo

Whitetiger