Euthanasia! Should it be legal in this country?

Question

Would you want to be kept alive against your will.

Answer 1

I believe it should be legal, I have taken care of alot of suffering people and have seen what death from cancer, ALS (Lou Gehrigs disease), Multiple Sclerosis, and many other things is like. Imagine being robbed of every possible function, not including being able to speak or even be able to lift your arm, but still having your mental capacity intact....Alzheimers is another big one, watching a spouse grieve so much because their husband/wife cannot remember 50 years of marriage or even their own children...sometimes people who are actively dying hang on for up to 2 weeks. If someone is in their right mind when diagnosed with something like that, they should be able to make the decision to terminate their lives at a specific point in the disease progression, as long as the situation matches their specified criteria...I used to say no way I would never do that or think that was ok but then I began working in the health profession, and I am not so naieve anymore, there is pure suffering happening every second of every day. We dont like to see our pets suffer so we put them down when it is their time, but we humans must suffer for many years sometimes before we are withered away to nothing and basically have nothing else the disease can take but your life. It should be legal!! Right to live means right to live with a good quality of life, but when the naysayers are laying on their deathbeds and having their BM cleaned up by total strangers stricken with some terrible affliction and no pain medication in the world will take it away, they might change their minds. Euthanasia, along with guidelines should be legal

Answer 2

It's interesting that you worded the question in this way. That makes it morally easy for those dealing with a terminal situation. They are simply doing what the patient wanted/would have wanted. What worries me, however, is the other slant which you could have adopted. Is there any point in keeping an old person alive who is a burden to everyone? And that is the question which sends a chill down my spine. There are a number of grey areas of our legal system which started off when people led by the best of intentions passed certain laws which were then developed in a way which nobody could have anticipated. The closest analogy here is abortion, which was originally envisaged as being confined to very sad and extreme cases and which is now simply a means of getting rid of an unwanted baby -- murder in all but name. If euthanasia were to be legalised, then it is horrifyingly foreseeable that it would be developed into a means of reducing hospital budgets, accelerating the inheritance prospects of families burdened by a very old relative, saving council expenditure on geriatric homes and all sorts of other practical solutions. No, thank you! I'll leave it to God to decide when I die, not to some bureaucrat armed with the Euthanasia Act!

Answer 3

Euthanasia is currently legal in Oregon. Yes. I think given some guidelines it should be legalized. Personally I do not believe in a life of prolonged suffering and pain. When the quality of life is no longer present and cannot be regained than having made peace with my own Maker, I think I should be allowed to terminate my life...and I plan on doing so when it becomes obvious that pain is all that I am going to face and massive amounts of drugs simply to rid myself of pain which will only further damage my mind.

Answer 4

Yes , it should be legal > In some states you can have what is called a living will and you can indicate you only want to be kept alive for so long by a machine . Isn't that what finally ended Terry Schaivo's suffering ?

Answer 5

I have always thought that we are given the choice to put an animal to sleep when they are in pain or there is no hope left for them, so why should we not be able to do the same for humans as well?

We all have experienced someone in our lives that suffered a less than perfect death. If you have not yet you will.

If I had the decision to do or not do I would consider it if I were to the point where I was struggling to maintain. So many suffer long agonizing deaths. Deaths that are painful for them as well as the family and friends.

Answer 6

It goes on all the time, it just isn't talked about, it is legal in Oregon. It is called assisted suicide, in my state Dr. Jack Kevorkian tried to bring the subject to the surface and wound up in prison and will probably be there for the rest of his life because he is 78 years old and sickly, he has about 5 years to go if he makes it. But Dr. pull the plug all the time for people that do not want to be on life support.

Answer 7

That should be legal anywhere in the world.

By what right does any person, government, state or law have to say that an individual cannot end their own life or by being assisted. It is merely lip service to show how good this country is.

Answer 8

Euthanasia is not right. If you don't want to be kept alive through extraordinary means, you can make your wishes known through legal means.

Answer 9

This is really another way of saying "who is going to be God to-day?" I would not like to be the doctors making the decision, it goes against their training and the Hippocratic oath. It could leave all manner of doors open for`underground`decisions. The relatives presumably would have to agree; could they live with their decision afterwards? On the other hand..........if I were terminally ill and in pain, I don`t think I would like to just linger on. Every day seeing my loved ones suffering as well.

Answer 10

Get a living will. Choose do not resuscitate and when you code. They'll let you go.
No euthanasia should not be legal. People may take advantage of it.
i.e Knock of Uncle Bob and say he wanted it that way.