Since reading the news that Jack Kevorkian "Dr Death" passed away...I got to thinking. Was it really a crime what he did? Would you want some "assistance" if you were suffering on your death bed? Does your religion affect your opinion of this? I also didn't realize assisted suicide was already legal in three states....Oregon, Washington, and Montana. Anyone ever euthanized a pet? Wouldn't you want the same courtesy? I personally see no problem with putting someone out of their misery per their request. There was some controversy regarding some of his patients. According to wikipedia, Makes me kinda wonder what his intentions were....did he want to help or just enjoy taking a life?
If a person wants to end their life, it's their decision. The Gov't, while having laws against suicide, has no right to say what an individual can or can not do with their body. Whether the suicide is self inflicted, or with the assistance of someone else, does not matter. So long as the third party (one whom assists) is protected by legal matter (signed contract, etc) and it's not coercion/etc then why should it matter. To me, it doesn't matter if it's because of medical reasons, or if the person just can't go through with it themselves. Too many people are hung up on extending a life for various reasons. Instead, when someone is close to dying, we should be comforting them and be accepting of their time is near the end.
Goodness, I don't know. As a Christian, I still don't know. I know one thing, how far should the Gov get into our lives? I mean if I am a vegetable, I don't want to go out like that. Pull the plug. If I am terminal, I think I should have the choice.
I see no crime. We allow people to abort a fetus yet we don't allow grown adults determine their destiny without the government getting involved. I don't get it.
Great point, Brett. That's murdering an innocent life in which he/she has no choice. But someone rotting away can't choose to die. Makes no sense.
X2, we will kill a life that has yet to live, but won't allow someone that is suffering greatly to end their life that they have fully lived.
The mental capacity of th victim is where the Grey line appears. If you eat your neighbor for Susi then are acquitted by reason of insanity then isn't Jack guilty with the same reasoning.
big country wrote; Isn't life it's self terminal? Who has made it out alive? We are all terminal from the point of conception. I live in Oregon where doctor assisted suicide IS LEGAL. I remember the adds on television as a child and now as a voter, it seems to come up every few years, always passing by a landslide. Oregon is a very liberal state and often mocks California on laws. My feelings on euthanasia is this; Should be legal. My reasons for this is that Oregon is a LATE TERM ABORTION state with CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. Oregon doctors have NO problem with abortion. Oregon jury members have NO problem with capital punishment for convicted criminals How can you allow someone to choose the fate of another life and not let one control their own. If our justice system can kill human lives, why not let mentally sane people do the same? If your argument is that you must be "in pain", how will you rate pain on a scale that is effective and fair? Since there is not a way to tell how much "pain" someone is in, where do we draw the line? Should "emotional pain" make a candidate eligible?
yet we would call it animal abuse if we kept them alive as long as we do people. I often get criticized for "retiring" my dogs after they have become yard decorations.
My problem with it is it's perfectly legal for the family to make a decision to "pull the plug" if someone is on a ventilator or in a vegetative state. But it's not legal for a person to make that decision for him or herself? That's messed up.
