Should we be allowed to die if we choose?

[RickWA]

Why can't we end out lives if we choose to?

Suicide is extremely difficult to prosecute.

Ok, flippant fluff aside (I just had to get it out of my system), I personally have the same problem with suicide I have with abortion. I hate it - and I very rarely use the word "hate" (Oregon Ducks notwithstanding). Part of me is concerned with the continued movement to have physicians enable and deliver death (to infants or adults). There is a part of me that truly respects the Hippocratic oath - and the sacred trust of a physician to preserve, protect, extend life - rather than facilitate its end.

That impulse conflicts with my view (I'm generally fairly libertarian) that your body and your life is yours. I lean toward affording the individual the right to "off" self. I struggle with accomplices.

Just being honest here...

 

[Renee]

Suicide is extremely difficult to prosecute.

Ok, flippant fluff aside (I just had to get it out of my system), I personally have the same problem with suicide I have with abortion. I hate it - and I very rarely use the word "hate" (Oregon Ducks notwithstanding). Part of me is concerned with the continued movement to have physicians enable and deliver death (to infants or adults). There is a part of me that truly respects the Hippocratic oath - and the sacred trust of a physician to preserve, protect, extend life - rather than facilitate its end.

That impulse conflicts with my view (I'm generally fairly libertarian) that your body and your life is yours. I lean toward affording the individual the right to "off" self. I struggle with accomplices.

Just being honest here...

Anyone can off oneself. I am talking about when you can't. I would not want my loved ones be prosecuted for helping me die without agony and with dignity. I also have a problem with life-support .....what is the purpose? Remember that case ..her name isn't coming to me...of the woman who was a vegetable and her parents and rightwing politicians insisted on keeping her alive?

 

[RickWA]

Anyone can off oneself. I am talking about when you can't. I would not want my loved ones be prosecuted for helping me die without agony and with dignity. I also have a problem with life-support .....what is the purpose? Remember that case ..her name isn't coming to me...of the woman who was a vegetable and her parents and rightwing politicians insisted on keeping her alive?

It's a very difficult issue, no doubt. It is very tough to be fully convicted without equivocation because of the potential suffering involved on one side - and the potential for abuse or the larger issue of physician "mission" of preservation of life and rescue on the other. Doctors are not mere cab drivers where 'direction' of travel is just geography (no intended slight to cab drivers). I can tell you that I'd consider support of prosecutorial discretion for family members who aided in suicide if it could be shown to be by consent.

 

[fairsheet]

Way back in the middle-ages day, suiciders would ingest a presumably slow-acting poison, then confess their act to a priest before they died.

I think this hints at why the religious of the day, proclaimed suicide a mortal sin, for which one would go straight to hell.

The world was a pretty miserable hellhole for the majority of humans. The only thing preventing way more people from offing themselves than actually did, was their fear of going to hell.

 

[PhilFish]

Not if the physician believes as I do, that she should help people die peacefully. I remember when we had to,euthanize my dog, how I wished when my time comes, I could leave this earth as peacefully and void of pain.

fair enough. not very many do at this point. (my opinion only..)

as to animals.. who knows.. I find the whole experience depressing... paralytic.. followed by massive doses of agents to stop the heart.. does it hurt.. dunno. it's more a panacea for those observing than the animal.. but would I want it for myself.. dunno. hope I never have to decide..

 

[PhilFish]

Not just for physicians, but for anyone who might feel compelled to mercifully assist someone in ending their life when they are rendered physically incapable of doing so on their own.

Obviously, there would be opportunities for a malevolent person to get away with murder if assisted suicide were to be legalized.

current mores would cast it poorly imo. murder? to some degree or other.. perhaps

 

[freyasman]

That would have to be decided before....kinda like no resuscitation. One could say the only people to make that decision are my husband and daughter.
I am More concerned about forcing a person to live against his or her will. Say a person with Lou Gehrig's disease whose mind is working but has absolutely no bodily functions, chooses to die, why shouldn't that person have the right to be put out of his misery?

Interesting question; I have to think more about it, but right off I don't see any reason why they shouldn't.... All the friends and acquaintances I have who have committed suicide used firearms.

 

[Barbella]

Surprisingly....nay, SHOCKINGLY, I tend to lean towards Renee's stance on this issue, especially where life support is concerned.

NO WAY do I want to be kept alive through artificial means, if there's no cure and no hope for me. As for assisting others.....no one should be FORCED to live, IMO.

 

[Renee]

fair enough. not very many do at this point. (my opinion only..)

as to animals.. who knows.. I find the whole experience depressing... paralytic.. followed by massive doses of agents to stop the heart.. does it hurt.. dunno. it's more a panacea for those observing than the animal.. but would I want it for myself.. dunno. hope I never have to decide..

I recently had an endoscopy. My dr put me out, did his work and I awoke. If I had a terminal disease, how pleasant it would be to be put out and just not awake,. This should be a choice .

 

[Renee]

Surprisingly....nay, SHOCKINGLY, I tend to lean towards Renee's stance on this issue, especially where life support is concerned.

NO WAY do I want to be kept alive through artificial means, if there's no cure and no hope for me. As for assisting others.....no one should be FORCED to live, IMO.

Does your power of attorney say that? Ya never know. Now that we are BFFs can I be your power of attorney?

 

[Renee]

Interesting question; I have to think more about it, but right off I don't see any reason why they shouldn't.... All the friends and acquaintances I have who have committed suicide used firearms.

Too messy and too violent...... did your friends commit suicide because they were terminally ill? I want to commit suicide by overdosing on dark chocolate

 

[freyasman]

Too messy and too violent...... did your friends commit suicide because they were terminally ill? I want to commit suicide by overdosing on dark chocolate

Sometimes the inside of your head can become like a bad neighborhood after the sun goes down, dark place full of broken glass and screaming..... the kind of place you shouldn't be going into by yourself. If you don't have someone who'll go with you, you might not find your way out....

 

[PhilFish]

I recently had an endoscopy. My dr put me out, did his work and I awoke. If I had a terminal disease, how pleasant it would be to be put out and just not awake,. This should be a choice .

Well... in that instance, I'd rather awake and find out....then to be none the wiser.

life is about the experience....both good and bad...and painful if needs be.

 

[Renee]

Well... in that instance, I'd rather awake and find out....then to be none the wiser.

life is about the experience....both good and bad...and painful if needs be.

The you wouldn't want assisted suicide....I would like to go out on a morphine high

 

[PhilFish]

The you wouldn't want assisted suicide....I would like to go out on a morphine high

But, you would like to know you're going out, no? Not just go in for an endoscopy..and never wake up?

 

[Renee]

But, you would like to know you're going out, no? Not just go in for an endoscopy..and never wake up?

I was referring to the pleasant way to die....when I go out, it feels like a curtain closing...and if I had my family with me saying good bye and holding my hand.the final good bye would be pleasant and I would be spared suffering

 

[Woolleybugger]

Anyone who has watched a loved one go through terminal cancer cannot possibly want anyone to endure that again. The family and patient should have the choice of ending life with dignity. We are all going to die anyway.

 

[fairsheet]

The vast majority of us are already free to die at our whim. Even most terminal patients have the option of coming to a mutual agreement with their physician, as to time and place.

Some people don't have this option though. My state passed a "death with dignity" law. It requires one to to go through a step-by-step process to make sure everything's righteous.

But, even as I don't have the numbers in front of me, I think most would be surprised at how relatively few people have availed themselves of this law. I don't think it's a matter of few people being interested in "death with dignity". I think it goes to their being so many other options.

 

[Renee]

The vast majority of us are already free to die at our whim. Even most terminal patients have the option of coming to a mutual agreement with their physician, as to time and place.

Some people don't have this option though. My state passed a "death with dignity" law. It requires one to to go through a step-by-step process to make sure everything's righteous.

But, even as I don't have the numbers in front of me, I think most would be surprised at how relatively few people have availed themselves of this law. I don't think it's a matter of few people being interested in "death with dignity". I think it goes to their being so many other options.

I think a lot of people really support it but when it comes their time to die they want to hold onto the last minute. But that is their choice and that is what is so good about the law, knowing the option,

 

[fairsheet]

I think a lot of people really support it but when it comes their time to die they want to hold onto the last minute. But that is their choice and that is what is so good about the law, knowing the option,

I think you may've missed my point. "Death with dignity" happens every day in this country, thousands of times - in states with "Death with dignity" laws, and those without.