Dignitas.

[scotty]

For or Against?

[Andie]

for

i would like to have the choice of how i die, should that decision ever become an option...

i am not in favour of assisted suicides when the patient isn't terminal or able to communicate their wishes (but i have that wish already inplace along with my donor card through my family...again should the need arise)

a long slow drawn out painful lingering death is not how i see myself moving on from this life...i've had my time...i've made and done all the things i ever wanted to do...except those that are saved for when i retire...i ask only to be treated with respect and dignity in my final hours

peace

and before anyone says anything on how depressing etc...not at all...i'm at peace with who i am...and i have no fears of the next adventure

[boudicca]

For.

I am not religious, but even if I was, I find one of the main arguments against euthanasia - that it's "playing God" - utterly risible.

If one takes the view that human beings ought not to interfere in matters of life and death, we may as well take the same stance as some fundementalist Muslims (and indeed Christians) and refuse any medical treatment whatsoever. At least this view is consistent.

But to suggest that keeping someone hooked to machines which artificially prolong their life, when without drugs and contraptions - without human inventions, in a completely natural state and simply left to fend for themselves - they would be dead within a matter of days, is not playing God, and assisting them in a painless and peaceful death is, seems ridiculous to me.

It is in human beings nature to "interfere" with matters of their own mortality, to serve what we deem to be our own or others' best interests.
We frequently keep someone who has had a heart attack alive (when in "nature", according to "God's will" they would be dead) because we judge this to be the most positive outcome in that situation.
By the same token, why should we be bound by a feeling that we are doing something unnatural or immoral when we help someone who is undergoing incredible suffering - physical and mental anguish which in these cases will usually only get worse and certainly not better - and begging to die? I think those who would face someone in this situation and deny them their wish is actually allowing their natural instinct of compassion to be overruled.

Can those who do believe in God or a higher power not consider that it is not a matter of leaving him/it to do the business of saving someone or sending down a thunderbolt to render the people who "should" be dead dead, but accepting that as a human being they have been invested with power and responsibility to use wisely? Rather than saying to their terminally ill relative "Sorry, I know you're in constant agony, but there's nothing I can do, decisions are taken above me. I'm not the manager, I just work here". Passing the buck up to Heaven, if you will.

I'm sure I have other things to say but this post is already long enough...

[Dark]

For.

If people want to die peacefully, and as they say, with dignity, they should be given the choice.

[lazarus corporation]

For - for all the reasons mentioned by Andie and Claire (hmm - that has a familiar ring to it! ) above

[Silver_Owl]

Devils advocate's possible situation.

Nurse gives you your final 'drink'.
You slip into the short sleep before death.
Meanwhile in the science lab in Zurich Proffesor Wildhair says 'My god, I think I've found the cure.'

[Obviousman]

Meanwhile in the science lab in Zurich Proffesor Wildhair says 'My god, I think I've found the cure.'

Well, you can hardly put everyone on hold in a cryogenic freeze until they've found 'the cure', can you.

I'm for too. Prolonging people's lives is as much playing with 'God's work' as saying where you want to stop it, and life is only worth living when it involves quality, enjoyment, ... Above that I think this is a far more humane option than letting someone starve to death (like they did to Terri Schiavo).

[markfiend]

The Terri Schiavo case is an interesting one. I'd argue that the state of her brain (as revealed in her autopsy) demonstrates that she died years ago. It was just her body that was alive with no mind/brain living inside it.

For. For all the reasons mentioned above.

[timsinister]

I can think of plenty of people I'd like to assist into suicide.

It'd be nice to say that I'm astounded no-one else has offered this alternative, but considering the ethical tangle combined with the bureacratic ramble of most Western governments, I know we'll be waiting years - decades - for people to get modern about euthanasia.

[boudicca]

For - for all the reasons mentioned by Andie and Claire (hmm - that has a familiar ring to it! ) above

This can't be right. I'm the one that usually posts "wot he said" after you.
Magnetic poles of the Earth must've flipped or summat.

You and Mr. Fiend really aren't on form today at all...

[markfiend]

Hey I tried!

I was trying to ask above: Is someone in a persistent vegetative state really alive?

[Obviousman]

Hey I tried!

I was trying to ask above: Is someone in a persistent vegetative state really alive?

It's hard to tell, people can wake up, but not everyone does...

And to add an extra bit to the question: What if the person in case is a prime-minister, like Sharon. Should you do an extra effort to save a statesman as a doctor? (not considering if you like or do not like Sharon, just generally)

[MadameButterfly]

For
A very good friend of mine's mom passed on this way a few weeks ago. The woman had cancer and after leading a very active and exciting life that ended in her not even feeling her bowel movements anymore, it was her choice not to carry on living that way. My friend and her sister were with her when the injection took her to that other place.

I've had many people in my family die because of cancer and all said the same thing near the end, "this is one of the cruellest ways of going".
If it happens to me it's known not to prolong the process.
I too have a donor card.

[James Blast]

"... I know what its like to be dead"
and
"... bury me, bury me deep"

[Ed Rhombus]

I think it's a good idea for Kilroy to diversify

[aims]

:lol::notworthy::lol::notworthy:

Not much more to say

It's their life, let them end it. No-one can understand a person's state of being better than the person themself.

[boudicca]

I think it's a good idea for Kilroy to diversify

Argh!

I was going to get in on that angle as well...

I must say, if ever a convincing argument was needed, that man has plainly earned his "final drink"...

[Ed Rhombus]

I think it's a good idea for Kilroy to diversify

Argh!

I was going to get in on that angle as well...

Rubbish!!!

Your brain doesn't work that quickly

[boudicca]

I think it's a good idea for Kilroy to diversify

Argh!

I was going to get in on that angle as well...

Rubbish!!!

Your brain doesn't work that quickly

It's been almost a day since Keef posted this.

*thinks*

You callin' me fick or summat?

[Andie]

Your brain doesn't work that quickly

It's been almost a day since Keef posted this.

*thinks*

You callin' me fick or summat?

you know what ED...you could be onto something here

[James Blast]

Fight! Fight!

[scotty]

Fight! Fight!

Yer an auld Goff at heart Blast arn't yi

[James Blast]

Yer an auld Goff at heart Blast arn't yi

yes Dear

[Ed Rhombus]

Fight! Fight!

Nothing to see here.

They'll be no midget throwing today

[eastmidswhizzkid]

she'd never manage to pick you up...