Poll: Should Assisted-Suicide be legal?

Ferrer

Proponents of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide say terminally ill people should have the right to end their suffering with a quick, dignified, and compassionate death. They argue that the right to die is protected by the same constitutional safeguards that guarantee such rights as marriage, procreation, and the refusal or termination of life-saving medical treatment.

Opponents of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide think that doctors have a moral responsibility to keep their patients alive as reflected by the Hippocratic Oath. They argue there may be a "slippery slope" from euthanasia to murder, and that legalizing euthanasia will unfairly target the poor and disabled and create incentives for insurance companies to terminate lives in order to save money.

What are your thoughts on the matter? Where do you stand? I'd like to see if ATRL can actually have a serious debate about a serious controversial issue for the first time in forever. Let's see how this goes...

beautiful player

Yes, under certain conditions

Planet Mars

It seems...wrong

Caesar

RomaZzzRoma

Caesar

Quote:

Originally posted by Planet Mars

It seems...wrong

Did you even read the op?

Quote:

Proponents of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide say terminally ill people should have the right to end their suffering with a quick, dignified, and compassionate death

How is that wrong

Girlicious

No, there will be lots of homicides and people will be like "they told me to kill them they wanted to commit suicide" and forging of signatures, etc. It would be a mess due to that.

TurntUp

Should be legal!

alexanderao

Yes for terminally ill or seriously disabled (I'm talking Stephen Hawking levels of disabled).

Planet Mars

Quote:

Originally posted by Caesar

Did you even read the op?

How is that wrong

Well suicide is against my personal beliefs so...

TheCheetahwings

No

Even with terminally ill people it's wrong to just kill them off.

Mezik

Yes. The real crime is torturing families when they have loved ones on life support and dying of diseases.

*Tim

Quote:

Originally posted by TheCheetahwings

No

Even with terminally ill people it's wrong to just kill them off.

You don't "kill them off" like animals in a butchery. They have to give permission and they go in a calm and better way

Planet Mars

Quote:

Originally posted by Sugar Rush

Yes. The real crime is torturing families when they have loved ones on life support and dying of diseases.

Those loved ones dying of terminal diseases chose to spend they're remaining days with family members. And as a loved one I would be more at peace knowing he or she passed away naturally. As opposed to being killed.

Caesar

I think it should just be their choice, if they know they going to die anyways and just going to suffer on their way to death, might aswell.

brndksk

Quote:

Originally posted by alexanderao

Yes for terminally ill or seriously disabled (I'm talking Stephen Hawking levels of disabled).

Actually Stephen Hawking almost got killed by his wife.

Blue Momo!

Quote:

Originally posted by *Tim

You don't "kill them off" like animals in a butchery. They have to give permission and they go in a calm and better way

In that case why drag more people into this problem? Just commit suicide. I'm sure assisting someone or 'killing them with permission' is tramautizing.

However if that person is in a situation where they can't move and commit then it could be discussed.

Ferrer

Quote:

Originally posted by Planet Mars

Those loved ones dying of terminal diseases chose to spend they're remaining days with family members. And as a loved one I would be more at peace knowing he or she passed away naturally. As opposed to being killed.

I understand where you're coming from and I respect your stance. The thing that scares me about legalizing euthanasia is that insurance companies may try to kill terminal patients just to save money on treatment.

Jet

Hell no

Alejandrawrrr

Quote:

Originally posted by Planet Mars

Well suicide is against my personal beliefs so...

Well it's not like you have to do it

Not everyone is religious or whatever, so if they are suffering and have an incurable illness, rather than living out the remainder of their days in misery (struggling to breathe, being unable to eat or use the bathroom without a doctor making them, etc) they should be able to end their suffering, particularly if it is provable that they have a slim to nonexistent chance of surviving the illness anyway.

It would be cruel and inhumane to force them to die in the most miserable and dehumanizing way, dangling the fact that they have no chance of survival in front of them for weeks, months, years even -- especially if the justification is "ending your suffering is against the personal beliefs of someone who isn't going what you're going through... So continue suffering until you inevitably die."