Right to die

onacruse

So, now we embark on yet another chapter of the legal battle about whether a person has the right to terminate their human life, with the approval and assistance of medical professionals who are otherwise sworn to preserve life.

Oregon is the only State in the United States with such a law (physician-assisted suicide, as so called), though many other countries recognize this act as a fundamental right; and this law, passed by a considerable majority of voters in this State, is now up for review, and very possible rejection, by the obviously conservative and religiously right-leaning Supreme Court of the US, with a new leader hand-picked by...well, let's not go there.

For myself, I have no hesitation whatsoever: if I'm faced with the virtual inevitability of suffering a prolonged and painful death, versus a relatively painless and reasonably quiet termination, at my own hands, with those I love, then God-damn anybody who would stand between me and the right I have over my body.

What do you think?

ps: I post this in Friends...perhaps it should be in another section?

confusedjw

How can anyone argue that abortion is wrong (conservatives) because the unborn child doesn't have a choice

and then

argue that "assisted suicide" is wrong - when the person is making the choice.

I'm for making the choice for myself when the time comes

I don't want to be a burden on my children

Lady Lee

I'm all for it under certain circumstances

glitter

I'm completely in favour of euthanasia. (voluntary not Harold Shipman bumping off old ladies!)

Dawn

Being a christian - I don't believe abortion or suicide is right. However - I feel more strongly that it is wrong for me to dictate to another person their rights over their own life. I'm against abortion because the child has no say. But suicide is a choice made by an individual who DOES have a say - it is their choice. When someone is facing a terminal illness and unbearable pain - who am I to tell them they have to suffer through it? I don't own their life or have any rights over it.

caligirl

I definitely believe that someone facing a terminal illness should have the freedom to choose when they have had enough.

onacruse

Dawn, your Christian perspective on this issue offers a lot to think about. While you, for yourself, would not choose such an option, yet you wouldn't interefere (legally or otherwise) with the choices of another person:

I don't own their life or have any rights over it.

Exactly. And yet that is exactly what the former United States Attorney General, Mr. Ashcroft, did, when he issued a determination that any doctor who prescribed a potentially lethal dose of medication to a terminally ill patient (a patient who had been thoroughly examined, both physically and psychologically) would be subject to sanctions and prosecution for so doing.

Yet one more example of the religious right attempting to impose its conservative viewpoint on other people, even in the face of certain death with avoidable pain. And for what?

Makes me wonder how "solid" the Christian philosophy is on this matter. I wish that religious people had the internal fortitude to allow for the rights of others that you have just espoused.

Cygnus

Hopefully we don't turn this into a 50 page thread arguing over abortion and euthanasia.

I'm just going to say that Jack Kevorkian is in my Top Ten of Greatest Men of All Time, and when it comes to abortion, it's the women's body, it's her decision, case closed.

BrendaCloutier

I feel more strongly that it is wrong for me to dictate to another person their rights over their own life.

I truly appreciate your stand on this. I am a pro-choice person (choice in abortion and euthenasia) because I don't believe it is my right or responsibility to legislate my opinions.

"We", Oregon, made ABC World News Tonight, lastnight. It was a really good article. It interviewed a man dying of leukemia, who received his prescription for barbituates. His outlook lightened when he had control of his life and outcome. He didn't know if he would use them, be felt relief that he could make the choice.

Just because someone makes the choice to ask, and receive the drugs, doesn't mean they will use them. Many have died before their request was filled. Many have died without making the choice, once they had the drugs. To date there have been less than 300 who chose their own death since the law became effective in 1997. In 2004 37 people opted to hasten their death.

The web site

http://www.dwd.org/

I am a firm believer in death with dignity.

Right to die

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