Poll: Should the law allow aided-suicide?

With the case of Tony in the news, who wants to end his life by doctors, it brings up the question should they be allowed to die? If anyone helped him to die they would be accused of murder. What do you think?

I have only put yes and no because there is so much moral issues in it, so i want you to explain your answer.

yes!!

If i couldn't wipe my bum after being to the toilet and iwill never get better i would want to die!! i should be able to without worrying if someone would get in trouble for it. i cant believe some people who against it if they fine letting other people clean them up thats up to them they shouldn't force it on everyone else who doesn't want it.

I voted yes. I don't know about the case at the moment (I don't watch/read news much) but I think it should be a personnal choice, as long as you are able to make the choice. If anything ever happened to me and I ended up paralised or severly brain damaged I wouldn't want to live, I would prefer for someone to help me die, I wouldn't be able to cope thinking what my life was like and then having to depend on other people and not being able to do anything.

I voted yes. I think you should be allowed to end your life if you know you are going to be in desperate agony in the near future and no cure in sight.

We all have the right to start a new life we should have the right to end our own if the circumstances are unbearable.

I recently lost my aunty to MS it was awful.

There should be something writen up like a will that is legally binding and no criminal charges brought on anyone assisting.

With all this is mind I cannot help but think about my favourite author Sir Terry Prachett.

I too say yes. But it must be for only severely disabled people that can not do anything for themselves, and after intense therapy. It should never be allowed for depression or mental illnesses.

would mind people cleaning you caryll?

i would rather think# about me how i was then how i become.

that fine but people who don't have believes should have a right to end their suffering.

Yes and no. To me suicide is morally just wrong. However moral and legal are different. Aided suicide in and and itself should most definately be legal. However, it should only be permitted if a person has a living will that very clearly outlines their intentions and their current condition meets the requirement stated in the will before a life is ended. This should be done before the accident or disease has gotten to the point where someone desires to end their life.

Doctors should not be a part of it though. The hippocratic oath they take prevents them from doing so. They can turn off life support but nothing further unless there is a do not resesitate order or living will.

Moral and legal are different things to me. I've had a living will since the first time I went to Iraq in 2003. I didn't want my family to have to wonder what I would want in a given situation so I spelled it out for everyone. My religious beliefs are that life is a gift and that you shouldn't choose to end it. However, medical advancements and technology have come very far and allow life to be preserved beyond what is natural.

There are breathing machines and life support devices that can keep a body alive even after the brain has died and any hope of meaninfull recovery has passed. I think everyone should make the decision for themselves before they are in the situation and if there isn't a living will there should at least be a medical power of attorney.

Morally I think it is different but there is no legal distinction that I know of. I think everyone should have either a living will or medical power of attorney

If i could not move my arms or legs i should have a right to die it shouldn't be up to others what is right or wrong for me.

That's why living wills and medical powers of attorney are so important

i would want to die if i had stroke & was paralyzed, i dread the thought of people having to wash me... at some point they going get the money why would want to spend all of it on care when they could enjoy spending or have a better life with it..

Caryll wrote:

Steve wrote:If i could not move my arms or legs i should have a right to die it shouldn't be up to others what is right or wrong for me.

So, have you made a living will?

no but maybe it something i should be thinking about doing. but it's like temping fate

If there was no chance of living a half normal life i would want to die. My father would want to die, he has told me so many many times.

I work in a home and there are a lot of people who need looked after in that way and they dont know any better but if i were to bee washed down like that and KNOW what was happening i would just wish to die. i would never want to see my father like that, he is a strong independent man who has never relied on anyone to do anything for him. He would HATE to end his successful life like that.

I think everyone should have a living will. That way your intentions are known in advance and it saves your family the grief of having to make a decision. I've had one for almost 10 years.

Caryll wrote:Hmmm. Nobody wants to answer my scenario?

i kind of did, but used my father as an example

Caryll wrote:OK Steve, a little scenario for you.

Old gentleman has a fortune. His family want said fortune but although the old guy's had a stroke & is paralysed he's hanging on.

The family say it's better that he be allowed to die, but the old guy is in no physical position to say whether that's what he wants.

What do you do?

i'm sure he would make his feeling clear in his life with his family.

If he has no will the money will be given to the closest relitive, or split between them as per the law.

and im sure he wouldnt want to be stuck in syndrome just to begrude a bad family some money. id rather give everything i own to the taliban than live in a body that cant work

Anyway this is off topic, the law will be made to state the person must be able to make their own choice, either visually or verbally.

As i said the law will only allow it if the person can make the choice wither its visually or verbally, so your argument is invalid

of course they wont be going around putting people down because the family said so. although humans are animals to me, if you can put a dog down cause its suffering why not a human. im not religious so i dont believe in god. thas just my opinion

I don't mean it like that, i mean that the law will only make it so the person has the last choice, they won't be allowing people to go around saying "dads a bit peaky looking, he probably wants to die" so please don't think i mean to offend you, it's just that your argument wouldn't apply really.

Yeah which is why i would assume that there would be several different doctors and therapists involved and they would have to under oath confirm that the person expressed their wishes to die with aid

I see what you mean Caryll. I think that unless a living will has been made before the illness/accident then the man would be kept alive. The will would have to be done officially, with soliciters and whitness', etc. present. It could not be a choice that was left to family, or untill the situation arises. If then this man didn't wish to die. Everyone should have their own choice, not have it decided by others.

This is something that me and my family have discussed many times and we all would like to be helped if we were severly ill, none of us could live knowing what life was like, and knowing that everyone was having to do everything for us.

I voted yes and even though i am only in my 40,s i have just contacted dignitas so i can be informed if i ever have too make this choice, i agree this is a very sensitive subject and mine is only my personal view, in the last 3yrs i have watched 10 loved ones die with terminal illness some went peacefully, some were rotting away in incredible pain their dignity completely lost and i know i would not want that for me its my life and i have the right too make a choice too live or die with dignity.
I think sucide and euthanasia is very differnent, i have had three friends commit sucide when in my eyes they had everything too live for, but if you are so sick and truly have nothing too life for you should be able too make that choice, lets face it guys as this has come up on this site how many of us would leave our dogs ill and in pain? we can see it as humane too put an animal too sleep if its suffering shouldn,t we be able too allow humans the same respect x

Steve wrote:would mind people cleaning you caryll?

i would rather think# about me how i was then how i become.

Thats what i do as a job, but i still voted yes

As long as its my wish then yes 100% once (or if I ever ) become a major burden and drain on my family as I can't look after myself and maybe live in la la land, then I don't want to be around.

yes but only if my mind was fully working but my body was dead (moter nuron or the likes)as i feel if your minds gone its someone else thats making the desision even if you have a living will its someone else thats making the desision yes it may be your wish but there chooseing when to take action i dont realy see that asisted death could ever be allowed.as its a legal minefield that copuld ever be tackled

it shouldn't be if you stuck in bed and people washing u i would rather die and people like that should have a right to die if they want without getting other people in trouble.

I voted yes and completely agree with jstaff opinions

There really is no black or white answer to this question. We cant compare active euthanasia for humans to us putting our animals to sleep in kindness and their best interests since the moral issues are vastly different.

I just know that I would have a great deal of trouble accepting life if I were to be physically disabled (with mental functions intact) and dependant on help but I am not sure I would consider assisted suicide.

On the other hand, if I were in a vegitative state and had no hope of a dignified quality of life, I would not want to live and be a burden to my family. I would expect my family not to allow medical intervention beyond what is natural in the first place (passive euthanasia). I also have difficulty in placing the resposibility of making the decision to assist my demise in such cirumstance on my family no matter what my wishes are. Imagine your kids living with the knowledge that they killed their mother?

On a lighter note, as a family we have often discussed a world where PTS is legal for humans and my boys unanamously agree (jokingly of course) that as soon as I start to drool I am gone

To me it's something that everyone should think about and make a decision of what is best for them before the need arises. Not doing so places a huge emotional burden on your family and a legal and ethical dilema on doctors.

Definitely should be allowed, but there should be regulations to it (obviously). It's a complicated issue though, because you'd have to make sure the person is completely mentally stable, and a lot of people who are faced with horrible situations can make choices based on temporary feelings. So I don't know how it'd be figured out, but if it could be regulated and figured out properly, people should definitely be able to make that choice for themselves.

this wont be for anybody only for people are really ill or cant look after them self etc, going to toilet, washing them self, use arm and legs and so on...

Tony died, he ended his own life. I'm sure it wasn't easy, but he is at peace now.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-19341722

I voted yes I think when the dignity goes it really is a sad sight. We have made wills and appointed power of attourneys so if either of us were in no fit state the people we have named are trustworthy to deal with things.

Yes, I don't think it's fair that people are forced to suffer and loose their dignity, I certainly wouldn't, although it would be a nightmare to legislate!

I voted yes too because I believe if someone feels that way, for health reasons for example, they should be able to have that choice.