Euthanasia is a topic that often pops up in to the Mainstream Media when a person seeks a court ruling to allow them to kill themselves. The most recent case involved a French woman who suffered from a rare form of nasal cancer – her request was denied by the courts and she was found dead the next day (presumably at her own hand). The subject causes much debate – as is so often the case with ethics-related topics. So, in light of the subject coming back up, I want to know what you think: do you think euthanasia should be legalized, and if so, should there be restrictions placed on its use?
Should Euthanasia Be Legalized?
My answer is no. I do not think that euthanasia should be legalized. I believe that there are too many opportunities for it to be abused (such as a dying person whose family are to inherit a great sum of money through their death). There are also likely to be cases where a person who may not be mentally capable of making the choice to die, being considered “capable” by the court system.
Image above: Four terminally-ill people in Australia killed themselves using this machine. It gave them a lethal dose of drugs after they answered “yes” to a series of questions on the lap-top screen.
No, and get those youth out of Europe, too!
i think it should be legalized because it is the responsibility of a person to stay with, or leave their body. i consider it a basic human right
Human weirdness: It’s humane to euthanize our pets when they are ill and suffering and have no quality of life left — but it’s “inhumane” to help Grandma end her suffering when she’s ill and has no quality of life left? I’ve *never* understood this. What’s *not* humane about allowing someone to retain what little dignity and independence they may have left after battling with a terminal illness? Where is the “wrong” in letting them choose their own ending time and place?
no, like frater said, there are too many possibilities for it to exploited. I would add to that the propensity for mentally ill people to exercise this “right” while not in a sound state of mind. The fallout could be disastrous for some families. If a person wants to kill themselves now, they can do it. People do it all the time, so I ask why make it easier?
I think that it should be. People have the right to die if they like… Especially if they are seriously ill and in pain. If it is legalized, people might be more likely to seek our legal ways of killing themselves. Therefore, legalizing it could save lives, not just take them. If mental health experts have the opportunity to speak with depressed or ill people about their choices, these people would have an opportunity to get care and perhaps move away from suicide.
Most people who really want to die are going to find a way. Those who are too sick to kill themselves? Well I don’t think they should have to suffer an extra 6 months, or however long it takes, if what they really want is to die peacefully. I don’t see nasty relatives being able to take advantage of this… I imagine the courts would be extremely thorough in their investigation. They would be much more inclined to deny the right to suicide, especially if there was any doubt as to the person’s metal capacity to understand what is happening or doubts about whether someone else is pressuring them into it.
I think that it should be entirely legal, but not before a barrage of mental tests, and only if there is little to no chance of recovery. People in pain that are ready to let go should have that opportunity. I am with the Plaid-Shirt Pyrate on this one.
the US is something else sometimes. here abortion is legal, euthanasia is not. we supposedly are free, but we get fined for not wearing seat belts. were supposed to have seperation of church and state yet they pray in Congress and elections are based on how the Christian conservatives vote.
basically im for more freedom so Yes for euthanasia but only if the person in question says so, even if they arent at full mental capacity. Let God (or the earthworms depending on your POV) sort it out
I agree that it should not be legalized. Jfrater presents some good reasons that are persuading in my opinion.
no
It is also interesting that our courts have the right to kill someone against their will because of the death penalty… If they can decide that (even if I don’t think they should), why wouldn’t they have the capacity to decide whether someone should be able to die because they want to? Condemning someone to death has a margin of error. If that is legal, then shouldn’t euthanasia be? It doesn’t really make sense to me. Killing someone who doesn’t want to die seems worse than allowing someone who wants to die to kill themselves, or receive assistance when killing themselves. Or maybe that is just me.
Wow – I’m surprised people have not jumped all over this topic yet….
As far as I see this issue, it is a hot-botton item that people don’t (or want) to think about unless it would directly effect them or a situation they are involved in. Emotionally, like abortion, it is a personal issue that only the person directly involved can make a decision on. The ones that feel they have any say are the ones that have to deal with the aftermath, should the decision made NOT be what they wanted.
As far as abuse, yes, it would happen, like anything else on the planet, there will be people that abuse the “system.”
Personally, I don’t want the government in my uterus or my body in general and would like to think that I would be able to make my own decisions if need be, so the idea that euthansia be “legal”, I have a hard time with. (Since, if you want to die, you will find a way, legalities aside).
People sign DNRs orders, could that be considered euthansia? That is legal. They sign rights away to family members, making them responsible for pulling the plug. “Legalizing” euthansia, at least to me, means that authorites would “look the other way” in cases of people that want to die and not prosecute those that help them with that wish. In that case alone, and only if there was irrefutable evidence that the deceased requested help, would I even think that the legalites would come into play. (for the helper) With the proof of the wish from the deceased, there would be no one to “blame” or find fault with to prosecute.
As I was scrolling down past that depressing picture of the suicide machine there happened to be an ad that said “Fart Button Press It” with a big green button to push. Talk about a rollercoaster of emotions.
Anyway I agree with Jfrater with the points he raised and plus the slippery slope argument.
yes, within reason.
if someone is suffering they have the right to stop it.
although there is only so much ‘legal’ control that the authorities can have over a situation like this, but with strict enough guidelines i dont see how euthanasia can be debated.
again, like with most things this topic will turn to religion.
but if it was myself, say, suffering with long term cancer, i wouldn’t want to drag it out. why put yourself and family/ close friends through it longer than you have to.
why delay the inevatable (sp?)if there is no other cure ?
Like the abortion, euthanasia is going to happen regardless on the legality. Why not make it safe? What happens when someone really wants to die and cannot ask for assistance because its illegal; they try to do it by themselves and botch it up and are living with even more suffering. Is the machine above designed to test the mental capability of the person who is using it?
My answer would be yes and no. Yes it should be legal, no it shouldn’t be easy.
In the case of terminal illness, where there is no chance of recovery, there should at the very least be hope of a peaceful dignified death. There would have to be some sort of physician review, but it is possible to administer this type of policy without the excesses Jamie is afraid of. I certainly believe that this woman should be allowed physician assisted suicide, and if you are of sound mind, it should be permitted. http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23283804-2,00.html
In the case of the severely handicapped, my gut reaction is no. Who am I, or anyone else for that matter, to decide what constitutes quality of life? I am of the opinion that often life itself is reward enough. Robert Latimer’s mercy killing/murder of his daughter is case in point. Sending him to jail certainly made it clear that the Canadian Judiciary doesn’t like people playing god. Personally I thought his conviction unnecessary, he’s already in some sort of personal hell, but letting it go unpunished would have given tacit approval to that sort of behavior. We are not qualified to decide for another what constitutes unbearable suffering. And exactly who’s suffering are you relieving?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Latimer
In the case of permanent vegetative state, I believe that feeding and hydrating are not extraordinary means, but keeping someone’s body alive on a ventilator, to me, constitutes cruelty. If your brain shows no activity and your brain stem is so damaged you can’t breathe on your own, extending life is extending suffering for the patient and their family.
Yes. Dying is a natural right. For the government to prevent someone from ending their life is nothing short of authoritarian. If a terminally il person asks to be euthanised, they should be given that option. However, it should be used with much more care when the person is in a coma and can not make the decision themselves.
No, i agree with jfrater, there are too many possibilities that it can be exploited. But i saw this on south park where they asked this and everyone said, “Im not going near that subject.” But we are so it’s good.
The only way this should be legal is through goverment control of it, and even then it could be manipulated.
Your View is gay. People dont come on this site to hear other douche bags opinions. They wanna read lists about cool stuff.
i can remember a story a few years back in NZ, a guy was in a accident and he had real bad injuries. He could barely talk, couldnt walk and was just in constant pain. I believe he was told he wouldnt improve. So he decided that rather than suffering he wanted to die. He asked for euthanasia but it got turned down.
Last i heard this guy now lives a normal life. He did get better.
My memory is a it rusty and i couldnt find any stories on this, but this was the event that got me thinking about euthanasia. I do think yes in some cases, but then if theres a slim chance…
Smerkis; I like reading other douche bags’ opinions. Sometimes I even change my mind. What’s your douche bag opinion? Or maybe you really are a douche bag, useful for cleaning out body cavities and that’s it?
Smerkis – please see number 3 in the Comment Posting Requests below….
I think it should be legal, like it already is here in the netherlands.
If people want to die, they will find a way. And why make it a bloody mess, involving innocent people by jumping off a building, when it can go through the legal way. It’s not like you go to the doctor “hey, I wanna die” “Sure, there ya go!”. It’s a long process, including different doctors debating if there really is quality life left etc.
no, what if someone with a mental disabilitie say that and they really didn’t know waht they were talking about?
or what if they were pressured to kill themselves?
I don’t think the government should have a right in weather or not people die. Like someone else said, they already have the death penalty. How is euthanasia any less humane than that? At least the person dying would be making the decision for themselves. I don’t see the point in preventing people from killing themselves. Yes, those who are left behind would be sad, but it’s really not their decision to make.
What is more cruel, letting someone like Chantal Sébire live (http://www.nieuwnieuws.nl/archives/images/sebiresh.jpg), or letting her die peacefully? Certainly the first!
Yes
I am from the Netherlands and my country was the first country who had legal euthanasia and I am so glad we have this opportunity. But you have got to have strict rules.
It’s not like “oh grandpa has the flu lets give him a lethal dose”. No we talk about people who are terminally ill and in extreme pain.
Why prolongs someones life who is in extreme pain, like the lady in France?
I am also with the Plaid-Shirt Pyrate on this one.
Yes of course it should people should be able to do what they want.
Bob; no people should not be able to do what they want. That would be anarchy. Frankly I don’t have that much faith in my fellow man.
No.
If it can it will be exploited in a negative fashion. If it illegal, the ramifications for breaking the rule is of no consequence to the deceased. The family and the survivors, if any, will have to deal with the aftermath as best they can and remember their departed with respect. If one is convinced he or she will die tomorrow, they will probably find a way to make it happen. Do the right thing.
When I’m on my deathbed ready to go, my family and friends know me well enough to let me give up on my own because i’m a stubborn fool. In the process, if my condition gets better and I live, thanks for not pulling the plug on me.
Syme: sorry – she refused to take morphine because it made her feel unwell and gave her hay fever. She was well enough to have publicity photos taken and to take her case to the courts. There was an alternative for her and her YOUNG children – morphine. Now her children have lost their mother because she murdered herself. I sure hope that if I am ever a parent I will not do that to my children.
Yes, it should. But incase of situations like the ones jfrater mentioned, like relatives standing to inherit lots of money from a deceased relative, I think every appeal should be looked at individualy.
jfrater; Her children are 29, 27, and 13. Not so young as not to understand. I’m sure that her death after a night of celebration was preferable to watching her pain increase until she fell into a coma and took god knows how long to die.
If this was legal, all kinds of trouble would ensue, people would force other terminally sick patients to ask for suicide or they die by murder which is more painful.
Mom424: I understand exactly what a 13 year old understands of the situation: “Mom doesn’t love me – if she did she would stay with me” – children can be selfish in their thinking. You can not tell me a 13 year old child will not be damaged by his mother choosing to leave him intentionally. As I said earlier – she had the option of morphine which she refused. She could quell the pain until she died naturally and given her little boy more time to be with her.
I think we’ll have to disagree on this one. Like this is new.
She was not dying a nice death. The prognosis was horrendous, further tumour growth, coma. Who would like to watch their Mother turn into a hideous vegetable? I’m sure she did not make her decision lightly, and with much conversation with her children. Maybe you at 13, but not me. I, even at 13, knew suffering, and would choose to alleviate it. Depends on the child and their level of maturity.
NO because its just wrong. No matter what the doctors tell you, theres always a chance you might recover. Wanting to die is the most selfish thing there is.
Mom424: you are right – we do have to – I simply can’t see how any person can be happy to see their mother choose to murder herself in front of you rather than spend every possible last minute with you.
jfrater: I’d hope my mon would spend every last minute with me. The death is just horrible.
Hell yes it should be. If you don’t want to live, fine. That’s your choice, and no one should be able to tell you you HAVE to stay alive. This goes especially for those who are terminally ill and/or disfigured. Those people aren’t living. They’re merely existing. If they choose to be put out of their misery, I say we should honor their wishes, and give them some dignity.
Anyone thinking different, no offense intended, but I’m sure it will be taken that, is off his/her goddamn rocker.
Chris:Yes if you don’t want to live, fine, only provide it to those who are terminally ill. But that could be manipulated, they could be forced to for inheritance or something.
For me euthanasia is like death penalty.. it should be used/legalised but within reason.
In brief only with absolute certainty of the person’s will to die decently (or of the person’s guilt of a horrible crime).
Then poses the question of how we can be sure.. each case would need to be studied attentively of course… there would be strict conditions and all. which is a bother, i agree.
I live in France, and that case of that woman with a tumor on her face was pretty terrible. I find it “inhumane” to not allow her to die with a little dignity. I’m happy for her that she managed to end it.. unfortunately in hiding like an ashamed dog…
jfrater: Have you rcieved my revamped list? I want to know if I can improve it.
Csimmons: Well, then the parties responsible go to prison for murder.
Before reading the arguments, I was not sure, but now, after reading everyone’s comments, I will have to say that no, euthanasia should not be legalized. I afree with JRafter that too many problems will arise, especially here where I am in sue-happy California. If someone wants to end their suffering, self-inflicted suicide is always an option (not the best one but it is one). It is very easy to die peacefully, an overdose of sleeping pills will do it. You do not have to die messily like throwing yourself into oncoming traffic and this way, there are no issues about someone else murdering you by helping you commit suicide.
chris: hmm… that might work, if you legalize it that way, it makes sense.
CK: Jfrater, not JRater, its called proofreading.
ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY!! It is their choice, and it costs too much to keep them alive.
Csimmons, I know how to proofread. Is that really pertinent to this conversation?
Btw, it should be “it’s.”
It’s = it is
Its is possessive.
If you want to admonish me, at least get your own proofreading right.
Yes I think it should be legalized, but I don’t think that doctors should be required to perform the procedure. I think it should be more of a “controlled suicide”. Hospitals and/or doctors should be able to provide the person with a pill/shot and a room where the patient can be with his family as thet take the pill/shot. I think it should also be restriced to only folks who are deemed terminally ill.
Also, I agree with Mom424 with what she said about mentally disabled people and those in vegetative states.
CK: Damn, you’re right, it was a joke anyway man.
Hell yes it should be legalised! There are too many stories of hospitals keeping someone alive when they’re in constant, agonising pain. There’s a country somewhere in Europe that has legalised euthanasia and they’re still doing fine. Nothing in this world is perfect – there’s bound to be exploitation etc, but I believe that as long as the terminally ill patient gives explicit consent, then it should be done. It’s what they want, after all, and I for one don’t want to end up being kept alive when pain gets so bad that I just want to die. Do you?
I just don’t understand how this is a “slippery slope.” I am especially surprised that people would support the death penalty, which is certainly not 100% accurate, yet not support legalized euthanasia. Why is it ok to occasionally put an innocent person to death who does not want to die, but totally unacceptable to let someone who wants to die kill themselves?
When someone wants to pull the plug on a relative in a coma… Yes, that can be affected by greedy relatives, but how is suicide the same way? As long as there are measures in place to assure that pressure from others and treatable mental disease are not a factor, I really don’t see the problem
As for the woman in France… Well there are parents who would say “I want to spent every moment until my last breath with my kids.” And then there are parents who prefer to leave their children with a memory of them as vibrant, relatively healthy, and still able to sit up and hold them.
When a good friend of mine lost her father to cancer when she was 14, her mother stopped bringing her to the hospital in the last days. The sight of her father struggling to breath and horribly disfigured from his throat and tongue cancer was extremely traumatizing for her. Her father never asked to die as far as I know, but he did request that she stop visiting and try to remember him as he was. Lilly cries literally every single time she talks about seeing her dad in the hospital, even if it is just one sentence. What she can talk about without getting upset are the days before he got sick, and the things they used to do together.
Quality, not quantity can be important here. I would not necessarily say that either side is “wrong,” both perspectives have their own value for children.
Doris: the woman in my example above refused medication – therefore no cost. The only cost involved was her court case (which I presume she paid for herself). She lost the case and murdered herself the day after – leaving three young sons. Nice of her to spend her last months with her kids – not. Instead she refused pain medication and sat in court – God knows who looked after her 13 year old son during all of it.
JFrater…I have an older, distant cousin and when he was 14 I believe, his father was hit hard by cancer, it basiccally spread to most of his organs and he was living in extreme pain. He told his wife and son that he was going to kill himself but they flipped out and were angry with him so he decided to live on for his family…but after watching him try to fight the cancer and suffer EXTREME pain for FIVE MONTHS to try and be there for his family they both finally realized that it would only get worse, and that all he would have to look forward to is pain. A week later, after receiving blessings from his son and wife, he took a fistful of sleeping pills and laid down and died. Of course my cousin, who was 14 at the time, was sad and depressed after, but if you ask him now he says it was the absolute best thing to do. If anything, he feels major regret that he made his dad live his last 5 months in excrutiating pain.
So yeah, would a 13 year old feel like guilty or depressed if their parent took their own life to end their suffering? YES! But you don’t stay 13 forever, and once the pain eases its easy enough to see that it was the right thing to do.
Mom – just to clarify, do you also mean we shouldn’t allow euthanasia for severely handicapped people whose minds are normal, or who are mentally retarded or brain damaged? If it is the second, I’d have to agree.
And just to reply to some comments… I would never support people just haphazardly killing their friends and relatives in the comfort of their homes when they were asked to. It would have to be a legal process.
If my mother was in as much pain as that woman looked like she was in I would help her end it and not feel bad about the consequences. I would not think that my mother was being unduly selfish. I would feel selfish for not helping or giving her support with whatever choice she made either way. Sane, physically ill, DYING people need the right to make their own choice.
Csimmons – I happen to be a woman and that being said, Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned… or corrected
.
This is a tough one. I think it should be permitted. I think it should be incredibly limited in scope. You have to be of sound mind. It absolutly cannot be something to be decided for you by any third party. The only reason suicide is against the law is because the bible calls it a sin. Otherwise, exactly where is the crime? It is less a medical issue as one of freedome of expression. Do we have the legal right to die? This has already been established under the do not resucitate orders that are already a regular practice. So, if we acknowledge that we have the right to die in a fashion of our own choosing, this is not so far fetched. Without there being specific and demonstronable gross mental defect, an adult should be permitted to chose the time of their passing.
Yeah, I think it should definitely be legalized. With extreme… *Tries to think of the word*… conditions? You know what I mean. It’s got to be a pretty extreme case with no hope of survival, but yeah. It’s no different than people signing away the right to “pull the plug”, so why shouldn’t it be legal?
It’s a sin to kill yourself. so…NO!