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Dr. Assisted Suicide

kal-el

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I, for one, don't believe in a normal functioning person committing suicide. I think of it as an act of treason, or leaving their post during conflict. However, I believe if someone is terribly ill, and science cannot help them anymore, then I think they have the right to commit suicide. If they are unable, someone needs to help them, i.e. a doctor.
 
I, for one, don't believe in a normal functioning person committing suicide. I think of it as an act of treason, or leaving their post during conflict. However, I believe if someone is terribly ill, and science cannot help them anymore, then I think they have the right to commit suicide. If they are unable, someone needs to help them, i.e. a doctor.

Definition: # Violation of allegiance toward one's country or sovereign, especially the betrayal of one's country by waging war against it or by consciously and purposely acting to aid its enemies.

1. How is it possibly an act of treason? Treason against what? Yourself? You cannot be committing treason by using suicide, because you aren't violating allegiance toward the nation of a king.

There's no reason to prevent someone from committing suicide if he no longer feels it is necessary to live. He's a sovereign being who can do what he wants, as long as he is harming no other being. Now, if there are extrinsic, objective reasons for preventing someone's suicide (Economic collapose, death or injury to others), then you can do it.


I absolutly think doctors should be allowed to kill their patients if the patients desire it. It is the duty of a doctor to honour the wishes of his patient granted they hurt no one else. You should respect the preferences of the individual. NO one is better qualified to judge the pain or preferences of a rational being. If the being is under the influence of something, however, that should be taken into consideration.

People like Kavorkian shouldn't be in prison; they are heros.
 
If I had a terminal illness and a long painful death was inevitable, I would end my own life with dignity. My mother died from a brain tumor and she signed "Do not resuscitate" orders. For my siblings and I to want to keep her alive would have been selfish. Allowing people to go through pain just because others wanted them to stay alive is wrong. Neither the government nor any other person, whether family or whoever, has the right to tell another living person that they cannot end their life. It is a personal decision that is best left to the individual. If the person who is ill cannot speak for them self, it is then the decision of a spouse or other family member(s), not the government.
 
Technocratic_Utilitarian said:
Definition: # Violation of allegiance toward one's country or sovereign, especially the betrayal of one's country by waging war against it or by consciously and purposely acting to aid its enemies.

1. How is it possibly an act of treason? Treason against what? Yourself? You cannot be committing treason by using suicide, because you aren't violating allegiance toward the nation of a king.

I was likening it to treason. I was referring to the conflict or combat during one's life.

The only time that suicide is acceptable, is when that person is in extreme pain, which can't be treated, or when their mental faculties have diminshed to the point where they can't think properly.We should help put them out of their misery, or alleviate their suffering. IMO, someone who is'nt physically suffering, and has no handicap, should'nt commit suicide.
 
Our Government does not have the right to tell me I can't kill myself if the circumstances dictate it. There are many ways to do it without a doctor getting involved.
 
Technocratic_Utilitarian said:
Why not? If they are harming no one? Should a victimless crime be punished?

Why not what? What are you talking about? I didn't get a word of that.
 
(kal-el)
...or when their mental faculties have diminshed to the point where they can't think properly

I agree with you on terminal illness, but this i disagree with. Handicap is no reason for euthanasia, and by euthanasia I mean murder. You have no way of evaluating whether the person with "diminished mental faculties" (BTW: couldn't that just be stupid people? :smile: ) actually desires to end his/her life or if it's just he ramblings of a mentally unstable person. I'm in full support of a law that allows patients to be euthanized if their prognosis is almost or exactly zero chance of recovery with an evaluation by a qualified psychiatrist (is that how you spell it? I'm kinda tired here) but not one that lets us arbitrarily kill off the "mentally unsound".
 
I think assisted suicide is a good idea. For the terminaly ill what's the big deal? If you're healthy but for mental or emotional reasons want to end your life, you should be able to do as well. Before you can get your hands on those pills I think a mandatory amount of group therapy or psychoanalysis or something along those lines should be put in place, but other than that a organizing it makes it easier to clean up and you're not hurting anyone else... It seems like it works out.
 
OdgenTugbyGlub said:
I agree with you on terminal illness, but this i disagree with. Handicap is no reason for euthanasia, and by euthanasia I mean murder. You have no way of evaluating whether the person with "diminished mental faculties" (BTW: couldn't that just be stupid people? :smile: ) actually desires to end his/her life or if it's just he ramblings of a mentally unstable person. I'm in full support of a law that allows patients to be euthanized if their prognosis is almost or exactly zero chance of recovery with an evaluation by a qualified psychiatrist (is that how you spell it? I'm kinda tired here) but not one that lets us arbitrarily kill off the "mentally unsound".

If our science and technology have no answers to cure or provide treatment, I think it is a viable option. But again, that's totally up to the person. As for head cases, I believe we must do everything in our power to treat them, however, once they can no longer process thought, i.e. become a vegetable, and have no physical ability, IMO it would be the right thing to do to pull the plug.
 
Mmmm, where to start? I'm going to break it down into categories:

Terminal illness: certainly in the UK, most people with most terminal illnesses have the means to kill themselves at home, with prescribed opiate pain killers. Very few do so. As a hospice nurse I believe that few people would want assisted suicide. We can keep the vast majority of people very comfortable right up to the point of death. There are, however, a small number of people who have intractable pain. I think assisted suicide would be a good thing in those cases.
There are other terminal illnesses like motor neurone disease in which people become increasingly physically incapacitated. At the moment if they want to die their only option is to kill themselves while they are still in a fit state to do so, which is almost certainly too early. Assisted suicide at a later point might well be appropriate.

Mental illness: a small number of people lead lives that have been made intolerable by mental ilness that does not respond to any known treatment. Many do kill themselves if they have not been locked up and prevented from doing so. If they are judged able to make an informed decision (and many can) why not provide assistance in hopeless cases?

People in persistent vegetative states: I have nursed many of these who have been kept alive by artificial feeding and hydration. It breaks my heart. Why do we do this when we wouldn't do it to a dog? Beats me!

Final note: many people who attempt suicide because of medical condition mess it up, because they don't know how to do it right. They end up still alive but in a worse state than before. Would it be more humane to help them die without pain or distress and with dignity?
 
Naughty Nurse said:
many people who attempt suicide because of medical condition mess it up, because they don't know how to do it right. They end up still alive but in a worse state than before. Would it be more humane to help them die without pain or distress and with dignity?

Yes of course it would. I have heard of people throwing themselves off of steep bridges, only to end up still alive, but quadraplegic. And people that suck on the barrel of a gun, trying to blow their brains out, only to miss, living a miserable, vegetative life.
 
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