Legalization euthanasia?
486991
I believe passive and active should both be allowed. When someones life is torture, if it be mental or physical pain, they should be allowed to end their pain.\n\nAnyone who bases their answer on religion needs to realize that this is a serious issue, and should be taken seriously.
101655
Legalizing it for medical purposes would be ok.  Look at the side effects from some of the other drugs you see commercials for.  I mean what is the harm in prescription marijuana compared to percocet, methadone etc...
828723
I believe it should be legal, I have taken care of alot of suffering people and have seen what death from cancer, ALS (Lou Gehrigs disease), Multiple Sclerosis, and many other things is like. Imagine being robbed of every possible function, not including being able to speak or even be able to lift your arm, but still having your mental capacity intact....Alzheimers is another big one, watching a spouse grieve so much because their husband/wife cannot remember 50 years of marriage or even their own children...sometimes people who are actively dying hang on for up to 2 weeks. If someone is in their right mind when diagnosed with something like that, they should be able to make the decision to terminate their lives at a specific point in the disease progression, as long as the situation matches their specified criteria...I used to say no way I would never do that or think that was ok but then I began working in the health profession, and I am not so naieve anymore, there is pure suffering happening every second of every day. We dont like to see our pets suffer so we put them down when it is their time, but we humans must suffer for many years sometimes before we are withered away to nothing and basically have nothing else the disease can take but your life. It should be legal!! Right to live means right to live with a good quality of life, but when the naysayers are laying on their deathbeds and having their BM cleaned up by total strangers stricken with some terrible affliction and no pain medication in the world will take it away, they might change their minds. Euthanasia, along with guidelines should be legal
64141
This issue has always been difficult for me.  Not the part about giving people a real say in what happens to them at the end of their life.  That to me is only natural.  It's always been my concern at how something like that could be abused, and also where the line is drawn that says, "Here you can choose to end your life and here you can't".  \n\nWe as a society have done such a marvelous job of finding ways to kill one another and yet we still can't adequately figure out how to best do it to ourselves.\n\nAs far as it being done legally, Oregon permits physician-assisted suicides.  Here is a link to the state's site on the subject.  I wish you peace and comfort as you struggle with how best to help your loved one.
889068
In terminal cases completely for it! We guarantee prisoners the right "no cruel and unusual treatment", but we force our own society to suffer needlessly when the end is going to be the same no matter what? Makes no sense. Also, if a medical abortion is allowed later in pregnancy to keep a child from a life of suffering, why force our elderly? Makes no sense.
575679
Absolutely, why should the government have the right to decide when you are ready to go or not. Euthanasia allows the individual the right to say enough is enough. Why should a person be forced to endure months or even years of suffering and indignity when they wish for it all to end. Doctor assisted suicide ensures that a person can safely and gracefully bow out of a nightmarish existence. When we have to put a pet "down" it is considered humane. Why doesn't this humanity apply the people?
844681
Yes.\n\nYou wouldn't let a dog go through what some terminally ill people have to suffer.\n\nI've seen a member of my BF's family dying of lung cancer recently.  They had enough money for her to have the best care possible and she was still begging to be "let go" as she was in so much pain and her life had become a burden.\n\nImagine how much worse it is for those who can't afford to have the best private care? \n\nLike I said, I wouldn't see my dog go through it, let alone a loved one. if they wanted to go then I would want the law to respect their decision (which can only be made by the terminally ill person).  Otherwise I'd fight them every bloody step of the way!\n\n"David" \n\n - sorry darling but you'd better look up what Euthanasia is.  \n\nEuthanasia is assisted suicide which means the terminally ill person has REQUESTED it and wants help to do it painlessly and with dignity.   Of course its "with the person's permission".  It would be murder otherwise!  Doh!
773181
That's a very generalized question. What is the cause of the pain? What pain management alternatives have been used...there are many that you may not have heard about? What is the emotional status of the patient...pain is perceived a lot more acutely in depressed patients...and depression can be treated, thus reducing the pain?\n\nIN THEORY...unremittant pain "could" be a valid justification for euthanasia, but I certainly wouldn't just say "yes" without knowing a whole lot more than what you have told us.
190834
First of all, this a question that has no clear answer. If a pet has no chance of survival people put it to sleep. Now, if you take the same reasoning, technically, yes, a person who is brain dead may be put to sleep or taken off the life support by considering them as dead. But, the problem is, if euthanasia is leagalized, will it be misused? Therefore, it depends on the case. I personally would hate to see people suffer. Both the ailing person and the person who has to look after that person suffer a lot. I support the ideology but cannot look upon cold blooded murder as mercy killing. It simply shocks and revolts me. Euthanasia carried out with the permission of the person may be treated as suicide. But again, it is just as good as assisting someone to commit suicide by helping them put the noose around their neck.
405568
Euthanasia - it would make a great persuasive essay.
864658
Not at all.  If someone wants to end their life, it should be THEIR decision.  Who is ANYone to tell me what to do with my body?  \n\nSo far, the government says I can't end my own life, and can't ingest drugs of my choice...both of which can be done without providing an ounce of revenue to a corporation or government btw.  So, why doesn't the govenment stop people from eating themselves to death?  I can sit at McDonalds and down big mac after big mac until I run out of dough, day in and day out, and become the fattest most digusting unhealthy blob of an individual, but as soon as I ingest a "controlled substance", or put a gun to my head, I'm in violation of the law.  How does that make sense?\n\nBTW, you can't compare this to abortion.  Aborted fetuses have no choice, but people stricken with terminal disease should be able to choose their own destiny.
52019
why the heck would they want to legalize it in the first place? If they were doing it for the medicinal value, you'd still need a prescription for it and recreational use would still be illegal, besides, there are a whole lot of drugs out there which are more effective.\nIf it were legal for recreational use, that would just result in increased consumption and more fatal traffic accidents, etc. Nothing good would come from it.
9683
Some people are dying to try it.  There are several problems.  It should be administered by someone who is medically qualified but doctors take an oath to not harm their patients.  Also, after the fact can it be proved that someone underwent euthanasia voluntarily without duress?  Will some use it because they are not being treated effectively for pain?  Plus there are many purely moral issues regarding the value of human life.  Could a vile government extend the practice to involuntary euthanasia, as did nazi Germany, to eliminate "undesirables?"  The matter is rather complicated and society had best proceed with caution - while respecting free choice of those who hold their own personal beliefs.
907933
I don't know but I think there should be I don't understand why people with cancer etc. that want to end the pain can not legally choose to die by Doctor assisted suicide instead of suffering\nAlthough it is widely condoned around the world, only one nation, the Netherlands, has made physician-assisted suicide legal. In the United States, voters in five states initiated ballot measures to legalize it. All have failed, except for Oregon, where voters in 1994 approved the "Death with Dignity Act." That measure permit doctors to prescribe a lethal drug dose but not administer it and established rules to ensure patients seeking assisted suicide are mentally competent, in great pain and intent on ending their lives. Since the law took effect in 1997, more than 200 people have committed suicide with the aid of a physician, according to the Oregon Department of Human Services.\n\nYou can and should make a living will then you can choose to have no life saving devices like life support administered but these are not always followed
491530
assisted suicide, actually
20595
Euthanasia is a form of murder and thus is prohibited by the Fifth Commandment. It is a grave offense against the dignity of the human person and also against God, the Author of human life. While motives and circumstances can mitigate one’s culpability, they do not change the nature of this murderous act, which must be forbidden (Catechism, no. 2277).
30879
Wow, I posed that very question in relation to physician-assisted suicide on a paper I wrote a few weeks ago...\n\nit doesn't make any sense to me. i mean, physician -assisted suicide is when the patient is terminally ill with no chance of recovery, only has a few months or even weeks to live, is suffering intolerable pain, and really just wants to put an end to their own suffering... yet this is illegal in most of the world, and all of the US states except for Oregon(and Bush is trying to get it taken away from there too...) I don't understand why this is illegal, yet a women is allowed to kill her unborn child who has a full life ahead of them.  It seems that abortion is more "wrong" than suicide, because it's dealing with someone else's life, and with abortion you have other options like adoption. regardless of whether abortion is right or wrong, it seems more wrong than physician-assisted suicide(PAS), so why is PAS illegal and abortion legal? it makes no sense at all.  i can understand regular suicide, because the person could just be temporarily depressed and end up having a fine life later on, or be thankful that their suicide was prevented... however, there really is no legal deterant for people committing suicide since if they succeed, they won't have to worry about any legal ramifications anyway. even with drugs, i think people who use drugs are just stupid and if they are stupid enough to use drugs then we really don't need their genes in the gene pool anyway... it's their choice, and i agree that there shouldnt be a law against it, under our democracy, people should be able to make that decision for themselves.