Euthanasia

[belladonic-haze]

For or against?

Why?

 

[TheMissus]

For. I support the right to die with dignity.

 

[ElvisFan42]

Can't imagine wanting it for myself, but it is a personal choice, and should be available for those who want it.

How long until someone calls me "for death"?

 

[fillerbunny]

I'm for, if the individual in question so desires.

Personally, I think it's quite barbaric that we deny our own the right to die with dignity if they so choose- yet forcing our pets to endure the same quality of life that some people are forced to suffer would be considered an act of cruelty- perhaps, in some instances, even punishable by law.

Seriously.. if it would be considered cruel to force my cat to exist in such a state, how is it any less so when we're talking about keeping me alive under the same circumstances?

 

[Jane_the_Bane]

For. Why should we deny fellow human beings the right to die peacefully? Because some superstitious people believe that it is our duty to live as long as possible, or else some supernatural entity gets angry at us?

I've worked in a nursery home for a year. I've seen people suffer for no reason whatsoever. Pets are granted a death that is more graceful than what many human beings must go through.
Have you ever seen a person suffering from abdominal cancer? At some point, their whole system breaks down, and everything they've eaten comes out at the wrong end. No amount of painkillers can turn that into a worthwhile experience. Puking feces is no way to go down.

 

[bammertheblue]

For. Like the above posters said, everyone has the right to decide when to end their life. We really do treat pets better than we treat humans in some of these cases.

 

[blueapplepaste]

For. God gave us choice and free will. As far as I'm concerned it's a choice that every person should have the right to.

 

[DiscardedTruths]

For or against?

Why?

Definitively For. The previous posters pretty much summed it up.

 

[belladonic-haze]

I am for too. And I am definetely not planning to suffer myself. I have seen people sufficate slowly who had the same heart disease as I. Okay, it could take a long while- hopefully more than 20 years from now. We'll see.

I wanna live with dignity. Quality of life is so much more important than quantity. A slow painful death is not needed in this day and age.

 

[trunks2k]

For it, if the individual so chooses. I think it's cruel to keep somebody alive against his or her will when they have very painful physical problems that will result in their death, or leaves them without any sort of quality of life, i.e. a "vegetable."

In cases in which the patient has not expressed his/her wishes and is unable to communicate, the decision to fall to family members. In the case of no family members, then possibly close friends. In the case of neither, I dunno.

 

[LouTheWicked]

For. I'd rather be put out of my misery than suffer for the rest of my days in a hospital bed.

 

[justanobserver]

For. The others here in this thread answered better than I could. I believe that we have that right. of course, making sure all legal papers filled out, wills signed, witnesses concure that its voluntary, etc etc etc.

Similiar to euthenasia, when my unit was on standby to go to Desert Shield/storm, I made a Living Will that if I were to come home living off a machione/vegetative state, pull the plug. If medical folks could/would not, my family would have found a way to do it.

And it would have been done out of love an respect for my life and the lives of those around me.

fortunately, I am still whole and although some may think I am in a daily vegetative state, I belive we have the legal right to the option when conditions are met.

 

[MoonlessNight]

Similiar to euthenasia, when my unit was on standby to go to Desert Shield/storm, I made a Living Will that if I were to come home living off a machione/vegetative state, pull the plug.

Technically I don't think that that's really Euthanasia. It's simply refusing treatment.

 

[justanobserver]

Technically I don't think that that's really Euthanasia. It's simply refusing treatment.

I know but its along with my thoughts of self termination if I deem it nessessary. hence why I said similiar.

 

[gwenmead]

For. Absolutely for.

I've seen too many of my beloved older relatives deteriorate and die miserably to believe in the phrase "death with dignity" for a blinkered minute. It's a lie. Dying isn't dignified, no matter how much rhetoric anybody dresses it in.

So I'm for human euthanasia. (I also have no significant ethical objection to suicide.) My only reservation is making sure the will of the patient is understood and not violated.

 

[stillsmallvoice]

Hi all!

As an orthodox Jew, I must oppose euthanasia. I'm not a rabbi but as far as I know while a dying person need not be hooked up to various life-support machinery, one hooked up, they may not be removed. A person may never be deprived of oxygen, hydration or food as these are considered necessities of life, not medical treatment. What Jack Kevorkian used to do is, in our view, cold-blooded murder/suicide.

We believe that we do not have unrestricted proprietary rights to our bodies & souls/lives.

Dr. Daniel Eisenberg (a noted orthodox Jewish medical ethicist) writes:

(...).

But it is a major leap to go from terminal illness to valueless life. To debate and discuss how aggressively to treat a patient with an incurable disease is healthy. To discuss ending the lives of people because we see no value in their continued existence is reprehensible.

(...).

Genocide does not start with overt murder; it starts with devaluing the lives of some unwanted or unpopular members of society and follows a downward spiral to depravity. Often, as in the case of Nazi Germany, the first group to be disposed of is the disabled, particularly the mentally handicapped. The arguments for euthanasia are always euphemistic and always couched in language suggesting that we are killing the individual for their own good. We never propose murder, we propose "mercy-killing" and allowing the patient to "rest." We wish to end the suffering of people who might not be experiencing any pain whatsoever.

(...).

The above are excerpts from an article Dr. Eisenberg wrote this past March entitled Virtually Brain Dead (
http://www.aish.com/societyWork/sciencenature/-Virtually_Brain_Dead-.asp) in which he, inter alia, discusses a recent, and shocking, case from Boston. It is not short and it reads slowly but it is very good (I think) and expresses orthodox Jewish concerns very well, as does his previous article The Death of Terri Schiavo: An Epilogue (http://www.aish.com/societyWork/society/The_Death_of_Terri_Schiavo_An_Epilogue.asp).

This http://www.notdeadyet.org/ is a very interesting organization: Disabled (many severely) and ill (many profoundly, even terminally) people who strongly opose the "right-to-die" movement and are neither shy nor taciturn about it.

Be well!

ssv

 

[sk8Joyful]

Euthanasia: For or against?

Why?

Mostly *against*. Believe me, You do *not* wanna give medication-doctors any more opportunities,
life' *Quality* to destroy - than they already Steal every single second!, of every single day!

I should know, I've worked as a nurse for 30+ years. Thank! GOD ~ that
I have been able to help some of those poor souls, *Regain their health*

Get yourself a "Will~to~LIVE" document http://www.nrlc.org/euthanasia/willtolive/index.html Executed, and Pray it's *Honored*!

Annie

 

[TooCurious]

Dr. Daniel Eisenberg (a noted orthodox Jewish medical ethicist) writes:

The passage you've cited here seems (and please let me know if my reading-comprehension skills are rusty) largely concerned with the choice to terminate a life being made by someone other than the patient him/herself. Discussions of genocide and devaluing the lives of the disabled are certainly relevant to proposals of mandatory euthanasia, but I don't think that's what's being discussed here. You might object to voluntary euthanasia decided upon by the patient, but I don't see how the problems suggested in the quoted excerpt would factor into that decision. Does that make sense?

 

[wanderingone]

I don't know if I can say I am "for" it. I never want it to be the decision of some ethics committee that my time should come to an end, but I also don't want the same ethics committee to deny me the right to end my life should I find my days and nights to be endless waves of pain.

 

[sk8Joyful]

I don't know if I can say I am "for" it.

I never want it to be the decision of some ethics committee that my time should come to an end,

but I also don't want the same ethics committee to deny me the right, to end my life should I find my days and nights to be endless waves of pain.

Endless waves of pain (other than thru drugs-slowly, death-quicker) -
you can Learn how to *end*.
Many people have learned, how.

Annie