Do You Believe A Person Has The Right To Die?

minimus

Or do you think that a person should continue to be made to "live" even though they are in a vegetative state?

dh

I think they should have the right to die, as long as it's spelled out in advance, i.e. legal documents signed before they end up in that state.

Under some circumstances I think it would also be right for the family to make that choice, if the person in question was incapacitated at the time.

Country_Woman

ofcourse.

Since we all are going to die, I don't see anything valuable in suffering the last part.

When incurable ill, everybody should have the opportunity to end his or her own life.

I second dh

undercover

Why is it 'humane' to put an animal to sleep that is obviously suffering and will not recover but it's 'inhumane' to 'pull the plug' on a human being who is obviously suffering and will not recover?

I think it's up to each person and their family. If your will states to not keep you alive artifically then I think your wishes should be followed. That's why it's important to have an up to date will.

Voyager

Samson was given the right to choose! Judges 16:30

"And Samson proceeded to say: "Let my soul die" with the Philistines."

melmac

I second every opinion above!

jeanniebeanz

I think that if you feel strongly about it that you must have a living will.

A living will would have ended all of the suffering of the woman whose feeding tubes are scheduled to be removed today after many years of lying in a vegetative state in a hospital bed while her parents and her husband fight over what 'she would have wanted'.

Create a will, not for your own sake but that of your family!!

Jeannie

btw, Country Woman is that you in your avatar? You look just like my mother when she was younger! Wow! Maybe we're related?

Elsewhere

I believe that the right to die is a fundamental component of Habeas Corpus. (The idea and right of owning and controlling one's self and one's own body.)

In times past a state actually owned its citizens. In countries like the US people are viewed as "free" and therefore in possession of our selves and our own bodies. This is where the concept of Habeas Corpus comes from and a literal translation means: You have the body.

blondie

Healthcare proxies and "living wills" have that provision, for you to make your choice in writing and legal. Don't procrastinate; we never know if we will be in an accident on the way to and from work. On that bright note, I do believe that a person can direct that their life not be sustained by extraordinary means, such as today's machines, or if unconscious, select someone and an alternate to make that decision for them.

For those who think the family could decide, does a husband "outvote" parents? Without a legal document, it pits family member against family member.

Blondie (has her wishes in writing)