Voluntary Euthanasia

[lismore]

Following on from the death thread, would voluntary Euthanasia ever be justified?

What is your position on it based on your beliefs?

Do you think it will ever be introduced in Britain?

 

[Genersis]

I think for those who are suffering and wish to end it, there should be the option for them to end their lives.

It's their life. Is it really the best idea to keep safe, humane ways of suicide out of their reach?
It pushes people to find methods to off themselves which include more suffering and are possibly dangerous to others.(Jumping in front of cars being one example.)
Not to mention they may survive such attempts, no doubt making their psychological state worse.

I do think it will be legalised here eventually.

 

[savedbygrace05]

Following on from the death thread, would voluntary Euthanasia ever be justified?

What is your position on it based on your beliefs?

Do you think it will ever be introduced in Britain?

It is illegal and it will always be immoral. The sanctity of life means that life is sacred and should be upheld at all costs ( a great pity that this is not the case for the unborn).

Life is not ours to take, it is a gift of God. Because it is a gift of God it must be protected and cherished (even to the natural end).

Great strides have been made (and continues to do so in the UK) with regards pallative care, so there is no reason why people must have a painful end. There end may be difficult in the psychological realm, but that can be argued for everyone who is facing death!

No, it will never become illegal in the UK, neither will the death penalty be re-introduced.

 

[Nabobalis]

Following on from the death thread, would voluntary Euthanasia ever be justified?

What is your position on it based on your beliefs?

Do you think it will ever be introduced in Britain?

Yes, people own their lives and should be able to choose how it ends for them whether it be from chronic illness or tired of life. Though of course safeguards have to be placed to stop abuse of the system.

I don't think it will be introduced, we are still arguing over whether to give equal rights to gay people. This topic will be a long way away.

 

[Genersis]

Yes, people own their lives and should be able to choose how it ends for them whether it be from chronic illness or tired of life. Though of course safeguards have to be placed to stop abuse of the system.

I don't think it will be introduced, we are still arguing over whether to give equal rights to gay people. This topic will be a long way away.

20 years at most I'd say. But meh. Perhaps i'm being too optimistic.

 

[Paradoxum]

Following on from the death thread, would voluntary Euthanasia ever be justified?

Yes. Safeguards need to be put in place to make it safe, but it is peoples liberty to have autonomy over themselves. Just as you can give up your right to property to allow another to destroy your property, so also you can waive your right to life.

What is your position on it based on your beliefs?

To ban it emotionally feels close to the abuse or torture of the old and sick. Torture might be a bit extreme is most cases, but it is wrong to force others to live their lives how by our dictates. It is not the choice of others what I do with my life, but if God takes issue with my choice then He can personally stop me.

Do you think it will ever be introduced in Britain?

Hopefully. I try not to underestimate the ignorance of the public though.

 

[SithDoughnut]

There is no decent or humane reason to ban voluntary euthanasia for people who want to end their suffering.

 

[Bish bash bosh]

It is illegal and it will always be immoral.

Life is not ours to take, it is a gift of God. Because it is a gift of God it must be protected and cherished (even to the natural end).

Illegal for the moment. As I penned somewhere else, you and your ilk probably said the same thing 20 years ago in regard to civil partnerships.

Mine is mine, yours may belong to something/somebody else but mine is all mine to do as I choose.

BTW, immoral in your eyes not in mine.

Bish, Bash and of course Bosh.

 

[Hexa]

Not a chance it will ever be intorduced into Britain. Its far too contriversial for any governemnt party to even suggest introducing it, the back lash they would get, and boycott of voters would be too much to risk. The only party to suggest it would be someone like the BNP, in a way to try and attract more voters.

 

[vespasia]

This is certainly an ethical debate that is oft returned to by those working in pallative care.
Euthanasia simply means a 'good death'. The issue would be very grey as anyone whose health had reached the point they were considering this would fall into the category of The Mental Capacity Act 2005 [applied 2007].
Living wills allow people to stipulate in adance whilst they have capacity what treatement they would prefer not to recieve in what circumstances. Most opt for 'do not resuciate'.
Drugs meant to alliviate pain can also hasten death but then some of the drugs meant to cure can cause horrible toxic deaths. Its not a simple matter with trite answers and decisions made can haunt those making them.

Recent medical advances have certainly in some cases prolonged dying rather than preserving life. That is why we have the Nuffield Ethical Committee to debate edge of life issues amongst other medical ethical issues. I would far rather see this issue debated by those with an interest in ethics and unintended consequences as these debates allow ALL sides represented and yes that does include ethicists of various faiths as they enterede into with regard to the person who may at some point be at the heart of the decisions.

To urge a person who may lack capacity to commit suicide or to promote suicide is illegal under current UK legislation and remains a criminal offence. At least we have the Liverpool Pathway giving strong guidelines for pallative care for the dying including how to make observations of people incapable of communication, oral care, spiritual needs and analgesics!

 

[Eirlysa]

It is illegal and it will always be immoral. The sanctity of life means that life is sacred and should be upheld at all costs.

This is what I think also.

Just another case of taking advantage of the most vulnerable people in society. People who are considering suicide -- assisted or otherwise -- need support and help, not someone to pass them a gun or hold the syringe for them.

 

[vespasia]

Its still grey Eirlysa.
The Catholic church itself does not advocate the use of 'exceptional medical means' to either prolong a persons dying or force them to continue living because of the sancitity of life arguement. Part of the question revolves around is it ethical for we humans to prevent a person from going to be with God?
You have none more vulnerable in the UK than those who become deemed to be without capacity regardless of the cause hence the Office of the Public Guardian.

 

[non-religious]

I'm not sure where the word 'immoral' fits into this discussion.

 

[non-religious]

[Eirlysa]This is what I think also.

Just another case of taking advantage of the most vulnerable people in society. People who are considering suicide -- assisted or otherwise -- need support and help, not someone to pass them a gun or hold the syringe for them.


It is not as black and white as this. If we're talking about an individual who has the intellectual capacity to make an informed decision, then surely one has a duty to take into consideration their views/rights.

We already have the right to tick the DNR (do not resuscitate) box. This therefore gives a patient a choice. I appreciate the difficulty in implementing such a law, but I do think it needs to be seriously debated and considered. I say that as a qualified nurse.

 

[Paradoxum]

This is what I think also.

Just another case of taking advantage of the most vulnerable people in society. People who are considering suicide -- assisted or otherwise -- need support and help, not someone to pass them a gun or hold the syringe for them.

Quite the opposite. It is the side of anti-euthanasia that says that the old and ill lack the human capacity for choice and wishes to force their opinions on to their choices. It is funny how it is the religious who are most sacred of death though, as if no rational person would ever choose it.

 

[savedbygrace05]

I'm not sure where the word 'immoral' fits into this discussion.

Show me please where in the bible it says that Christians are to adopt a worldview? I humbly suggest that you as a Christian revisit Ps 139 as the Makers guide to the sanctity of life.

1 You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand —
when I awake, I am still with you.

23 Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

 

[vespasia]

Paradoxium I partly concur as it is not simply old age or illness that reduces capacity.

Under the MCA 2005 one has to assume capacity unless it is clearly demonstrated that this is lacking further just because a person lacks capacity in one area does not mean they would also then lack capacity in another.
Thankfuly the law and its guidelines are pretty specific and any challenges would need to happen in a court of law.

 

[vespasia]

Non religious.

It would be possible to introduce the concept of morality into an ethical deate provided the other side was argued. Moraility is after all a social construction and subject to chnage over time.

I could therefore argue that it would be immoral to deny a person the choice to take their own life in the face of no further medical options being possible to them and leaving them to suffer further just in case analgesics known to hasten death were refused.

 

[vespasia]

Psalm 139 can also be used to argue that humans are not fully human from conception as the words making, being knit together do not indicate this is a clear point for the commencement of life.

 

[Genersis]

1 You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand —
when I awake, I am still with you.

23 Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

I'm not sure how those passages, that pretty much just says God makes humans, convey the message that humans have no right to take their own life if they wish to. Let alone that Christians can use laws to make this decision for others.