assisted suicide

[bjalbert]

Originally Posted by afrey22

I do realize the need for regulation in this "field" but I don't understand why people have such strong feelings about it.

Some places still consider suicide a crime. And doctors killing people rather than trying to save them may get some people upset.

Personally I agree with Lord Necronomis and Tom the Pit Leader.

[SIWELCELA]

Originally Posted by The Arbiter

Yeah, but new cures and procedures are being found frequently.

Originally Posted by The Arbiter

I don't believe in assisted suicide unless the person is a vegetable, and even then it's questionable. People do recover from things. No matter how bad they may feel at that point in time, things CAN get better. And by then, it is too late. The only thing about a vegetable is it costs money to sustain them and it is extra space in a hospital.

yeah there are cancer patients and aids patients who where told six months to go and are still alive 15 years later.... how do you explain that?

[tom the pit leader]

Originally Posted by SIWELCELA

yeah there are cancer patients and aids patients who where told six months to go and are still alive 15 years later.... how do you explain that?

The difference is that aids doen't hurt. Aids attacks your immune system, but doens't activly kill cells, it just makes them worthless. Same with some kinds of cancers, they kill, but they don't hurt. Also, you can live a "normal" life, you can still walk around, talk to people, recognize faces.

Most other things which would be fatal hurt all the time. Even through the best painkillers, you can still be in aggony 24/7. Also, many brain ailments rob you of your ability to remeber or talk to people. Those are the people who want to die, that even if they could live 15 years, it would litterally be trorture.

[Helochut]

Originally Posted by tom the pit leader

Those are the people who want to die, that even if they could live 15 years, it would litterally be trorture.

I don't know a single creature on this Earth that 'wants' to die but it is their right to die a dignifying death. Also since homosapiens are the only species capable of sensing their approaching death we should be able to take our own lives, and once that is taken away I think society should intervene and provide a solution.

[ClockworkOrange]

I'm for people being given the option to end their life assuming the person is able to make an informed decision.
Family should also be able to pull the plug on vegetative relatives as long as it is inline with the wishes of the individual (detailed in a living will or suchlike). Not sure how this would work if a relative becomes vegatitive suddenly without such a will (through a car crash or something).

Assisted suicide is currently illegal in the UK so families who can afford it disappear off to switzerland on 'vacation' to dignitas then return sans ill relatives. A case was brought to court regarding a sons role in his mother's suicide but was dismissed by the judge saying that 'prosecution was not in the public interest.'
Not sure if this quite qualifies as legal precedent or not.

[The Corporal]

Originally Posted by ClockworkOrange

I'm for people being given the option to end their life assuming the person is able to make an informed decision.
Family should also be able to pull the plug on vegetative relatives as long as it is inline with the wishes of the individual (detailed in a living will or suchlike). Not sure how this would work if a relative becomes vegatitive suddenly without such a will (through a car crash or something).

Assisted suicide is currently illegal in the UK so families who can afford it disappear off to switzerland on 'vacation' to dignitas then return sans ill relatives. A case was brought to court regarding a sons role in his mother's suicide but was dismissed by the judge saying that 'prosecution was not in the public interest.'
Not sure if this quite qualifies as legal precedent or not.

It might qualify as legal precedent, though I'd be really interested to hear the outcome of another case, should one be brought to court.