Assisted suicide

[Parrothead]

I just came across this while surfing the web, and wanted your views/opinions/what have you.

[tabbyblack13]

I can't say anything bad about these people. They are not conducting the actual act, they are providing the information. If they didn't someone else would help them. Also the information is out there, a person just has to look for it. I support it if the person requesting the help is terminally ill and in great pain.

I don't agree with people with mental disorders doing this. Mostly due to the fact that there are a lot of new medications and doctors out there that can help a person. If you consider mental disorders then what about conditions in the autism spectrum? Would some people consider that a mental disorder? What about people with mental retardation and birth defects? Is there a line that will be drawn?

I will admit that I would consider this if I was diagnosed with Alzheimer. I saw what it did to my Grandma. My Grandpa tried to take care of her and he ended up getting injured. When she acted out it was vicious. For an woman in her late 70s she could hit. I have also heard of Alzheimer nurse getting bitten, punched, and kicked everyday of work.

I have another question. Is it only Christianity that thinks that suicide is an instant path to hell?

[AFPheonix]

I live in Oregon, the first state with a Physician Assisted Suicide law on the books.
People can be on hospice care for a long time, and that kind of ending is not pretty, it involves a LOT of drugs just for palliative care. I know because I dispense ridiculous amounts of various pain medications, benzodiazepines, and many other drugs to people in the hospice programs in our town. It is a blessing for people to know that they have a choice to end the pain if they want.

After all, it's generally considered good herdsmanship to put down a suffering animal if there's no hope, why wouldn't the same courtesy be offered to a human if they wished it?

[Amethyst Hunter]

After all, it's generally considered good herdsmanship to put down a suffering animal if there's no hope, why wouldn't the same courtesy be offered to a human if they wished it?

It's the whole "sanctity of life" bullshit meme. In short, it's about control - who gets to have it.

A friend of mine summed up the situation perfectly the other day with this quote: The sanctity of life has to start with respect for those who bring it into this world and has to end with it in the hands of those leaving this world. Anything else is just a mockery of the autonomy we are supposed to have of our own lives.

Last spring a guy about 4 houses down the street from me took off his head with a shotgun in the middle of the night. Both his parents had had Alzheimer's really bad, and he was terrified he was developing the same thing, hence the shotgun.

My maternal grandmother wasted away from Alzheimer's. I wouldn't wish that disease on anybody. I hope neither of my parents ever gets it, and I hope I don't either. I think I would want to go out while my mind was still relatively intact, rather than fade away into oblivion.

I don't know whether or not assisted suicide is good or bad, but I can't say I'd blame anybody who was in dire straits for wanting this option. Slow death is a pretty horrific way to go out.

[rdp78]

I find this kind of interesting about our society, that if an animal has a terminal illness like cancer or is suffering pain we will ussually put them to sleep mainly because it would cost quite alot to make them better. Now if a human is terminally ill or is in pain they just have to live with it. I mean I know we have all kinds of medications and treatments but sometimes they are risky or costly or both.

I think people have the right to die if they are suffering pain or have are terminally ill however, I do think they should consider all their options before they take that step. I do think that they need to talk to their loved ones as well as their doctors about their feelings as well as a pyschratrist or therpist.

[DesignFox]

I'm for it.

I think everyone should be given the option of leaving this world with dignity if that is what they so choose.

It is cruel to make a person suffer. We don't force our animals to suffer, why force our human family members? WHY? Especially since people, unlike our animal friends, can make the decision for themselves.

It's not murder if the person has thought it out, talked it over with their families and doctors and made the decision. It's not murder (in my opinion) if your family decides for you that death is kinder than lying comatose in a bed wasting away- shitting oneself, being fed through tubes, drooling, and lying unresponsive all day. Sorry. NOT how I wish to be remembered when I die.

And in the course of wondering about permanent comas- I'm seriously considering if the reason we can't put those people down is simply because it costs more to keep them alive. We have to pay for all that medical care. A coma victim can sit around for months, years, and not die. What does a family do? Go bankrupt? Over someone who will never regain consciousness?

Now THAT thought angers me.

[tropicsgoddess]

I'm for assisted suicide, nobody deserves to live their lives in misery and we all should have the right to go in dignity and not have to suffer out the last bits of our lives out of the pure selfishness of others.

[Lachrymose]

I honestly believe that any one should have the choice to go at any time they want for any reason.

Now, this says nothing to the effect it will have on the family, friends, etc. I do think that these could obviously be horrific.

Still, it's a very personal and private choice.

[Seshat]

If someone wants to die, I think they should talk to professionals, and if the prognosis for whatever's making them want to die is unpromising, they should be helped to do so gently, with minimal suffering for all involved.

If the prognosis is iffy - like, say, a frail aged person who has an illness which would be fine to treat in an otherwise healthy 40-year-old, but the treatment would be harsh on the frail aged - assisted suicide should be one of the options presented to the patient.

If the patient is incapable of deciding for themselves, their guardians/carers and other close people should be able to decide for them, with supervision of a representative of the State: or medical personnel should be able to appeal the decision & ask the State to step in. This is to avoid the situation vets see so often 'oh, it would be inconvenient, just put her down'.

There is no clear line. There's a section of the 'line' where it's clearly the wrong thing to offer assisted suicide, and a section where almost everyone can agree it is kinder to offer it than otherwise (soul-saving permitting).
The spot in the middle is a really fuzzy grey zone.

As I usually advocate for fuzzy-grey-zone decisions: those involved should choose for themselves, with the necessary information provided and explained, and with the assistance of their ethical advisor of choice*. Potentially, the State should supervise, but it's kind of hard to figure out where the State should or shouldn't intervene in these cases. So maybe not.
* For most, this will be a minister of religion. For others, maybe a counsellor, a medical ethicist, or a trusted and experienced friend.

In the grey zones, I don't think any of us have a right to decide -for- another person, except when we're the guardian/carer of someone who cannot decide for themselves. When the best ethical minds in the world can't agree, how can I decide for you? Or you for me?

[Slytovhand]

I'm all for it. I don't believe that one person or group or ideology has the right to interfere with how 1 person chooses to live their own life which does not directly impact upon others (obviously, I have a very different attitude where what one does, does potentially affect others!!)

But... I am reminded of Star Trek. Dr McCoy's father was terminally ill with cancer, and in a great deal of pain. After much begging.. and soul-searching... McCoy finally relented, and assisted in his father's death. 2 years later (or less.. I forget...), they found the cure for cancer. So.. nothing is ever 'certain'... that's a part of life.(and death!)

[Flyndaran]

I once had a medication induce MEGA-anxiety attack orders of magnitude worse than any I have ever had before or since.
If that feeling was normal I would kill myself without a moment's hesitation.
As an atheist I have no delusions of afterlife. That should tell you how horrible that week was that I would chose non-existance over it.

I don't believe anyone on earth has the right to tell me how much horror/suffering I can take.

[bigred]

I don't think I'd let myself get to the stage where I needed help, I'd try and do it myself before hand. I've seen my father die slowly (a 6'2" man ending up weighing 5 stone), my uncle had Alzheimers and didn't know his family for about the last ten years of his life, the people in my grandmothers nursing homes with Alzheimers screaming, my older grandmother (who died at 99 years and 11 months) wasting slowly, not living at all for the last couple of years. I'd want to go like my grandfathers, quickly. One died walking between his bedroom and the bathroom with no prior illness a month before he turned 90 and able to read books in French (he wasn't a native French speaker) up to a couple of years before he died. That's the way to go.

Hospices are incredibly sad and the people who work there are brilliant. I know with my father they tried all they could do to make it as easy as possible.