Should we have the right to die?

[TygerTyger]

I found this an interesting and provocative read:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7410000/7410217.stm

Any opinions?

[Lylian]

Yes I have an oppinion on this one. I have worked in long term care and taken care of people with horrible diseases. Yes I do believe that a person has the right to end thier suffering.

[Bunches]

I have worked in long term care and taken care of people with horrible diseases.


I have similar experience: I've often asked myself why they are still alive - what is the purpose if them being here? They're just existing, there's no life there, all they're doing is suffering.

But having said that, in the long run, I am still of the belief that it's not up to humans to decide when it is their time to go. In doing so we're effectively making ourselves god. Perhaps that suffering is for a reason relating to something in the past or something yet to come - I can't be sure against that idea. I trust nature to guide me and to know when it's right for me to go.

[Stormbeard]

I believe everyone, even those who are not terminally ill, should be able to choose their own death.

[Bettie]

Agree with SB.

People should be allowed to choose when they die. It is my body, my life, my decision to end it should I feel the need to.

[Philosophia]

My body, my choice. I should be able to die if I choose to do so because it will be my decision. It is the same for anybody who wants to die (though I would prefer them to be "of sound mind").

[TygerTyger]

So everyone so far seems to think that euthenasia is acceptable?!

I have to throw my hat in the ring and add that so do I.

Obviously there have to be safeguards, perhaps some types of people should be automatically refused the option, such as people who have suffered an episode of depression with 'x' number of years?

My wife is currently training to become a nurse and has two placements on hospital wards already. She was shocked to discover how many elderly people she has eno****ered, as her mentor put it, the NHS has become nothing but a vast care home!

On one ward she encountered a patient who was refusing any medical assistance whatsoever. He was quite competent and stated that his life had ended and that he was just existing now in a private care home. If his body was shutting down then that was fine with him as long as it did not mean being in pain.

He was tired, worn out as he put it.

The doctors tried very hard to get his consent to them administering medication but he steadfastly refused. His mind was made up. He died during the night.

His bed was quickly filled with another elderly patient.

The cost to the NHS for caring for the elderly is phenomenal. Obviously, some have the right to be treated, but many have given up and are just lingering, either until they are discharged to their care homes because the hospital can't do anymore for them or they die in a hospital bed.

None of them have the right to die when and how they see fit!

I'm not suggesting that euthenasia would solve any of the NHS's problems, most of the elderly in their care are too far gone to be considered competent enough to make such a decision, but perhaps if suicide was not treated as such a taboo people might be willing to participate in an intelligent debate on the subject and reach a practical conclusion?

[Xander67]

So everyone so far seems to think that euthenasia is acceptable?!


NO, absolutely not. I am not advocating euthenasia, in America we have what is known as a Living Will. It lays out clear instructions and lists the treatments and measures a person would want or not want in case they are no longer able to speak for themselves. In this country, a person has the right to refuse treatment just as much as they have the right to it.

I work in a nursing home. I see people who are put on feeding tubes because they are no longer able to feed themselves. Then there are those who are not put on it because their Advance directive says they do not wish any artificial means. So their wishes are respected..

That is not Euthenasia, it is the law being complied with..

I give care for people who are on feeding tubes as well. They get washed daily and turned from side to side at regular intervals to prevent pressure wounds from developing.

I do not see where anyone here has posted in favor of Euthenasia, all I am seeing are people who are making choices in their own care.

One of absolute worse things that can happen to a person is for them to suddenly become incapacitated or in a position where they can no longer do for themselves and being put into a nursing home without a living will. No power of a attorney appointed, no nothing. You should see how cruel family members can be and bitter towards each other because they all dissagree on their loved one's care. Haveing an Advance Directive helps because then the nurse, or DR can know they are doing what that person would have wanted and it has the final say in any family squabbles.

[Dark_Tezcatlipoca]

Has anyone seen the Spanish film "The Sea Inside".

[TygerTyger]

The use of a Living Will to insist upon the withholding of medicine or medical treatment falls under the definition of ‘Passive Euthanasia’. I understand that for various reasons, religious and historic, some people do not like the term euthanasia.

Essentially I do not see the difference between arranging for my own death by writing out implicit instructions to stop medical intervention and deciding that today I will die by an equally passive means, such as hypothermia, they both achieve the same result by the exercise of a conscious decision.

No, I haben't seen 'The Sea Inside', can you give us some details please?

[SilverClaw]

My view ons Euthanasia has changed alot since the late 80's early 90's when I first learned about what it was, and had to write an essay on the topic. Then I was a Jehovah's Witness so my views at that time was no it is not acceptable.
however once I got away from that religion I questioned things and since then have changed my views and wrote another paper and oral presentation on it when I was in college...

Since then I have been put in two situations where I have almost had to carry through with someones final request and taking them off life support. fortunately neither one I had to...

But still I do have to contend with the fact my mom does have a living will and since I am her executor of that will I will have to face this issue again in the future, but still I stand by my opinion that yes it is acceptable.

Why should anyone have the right to enforce their views and morals onto someone else? If they chose that they want to leave this plane of existence a certain way and with some dignity then I say they should be able to.

[Torrvald]

I think that we all should have a choice to wether or not we die. i have seen much pain and suffering at the hands of doctors and nurses who beleaved they were doing right by keeping the people alive. some of the people all they had to look forward to was pain anyway they looked at it and they wanted to end there life. they were stopped all the famly member had to say was they were out of there mind and them trying to end it just proved they were bonkers. so there is your way around the living will. because then it has to be proven that the person was of sound mind when the living will was made.
true you can refuse medical treatment until you go unconcious then they will take you to the hospitial and you get treated anyway then because you refused treatment they throw you in the looney bin.
so here in the US. good luck with that.

i still think it would be best to chouse when you die especialy if there is suffering involved.

[Happydeadkitty]

I've always felt it should be a persons choice. Actually I already plan on ending my own (far far into the future) Have the whole thing all planned. I'm going out on a grand journey! By that point, my body will be just in the way anyway.


HDK

[Terra Mater]

Yes, indubitably so. DNR orders aren't always adhered to. In addition, you might have thught you could live with anything until you go through years of incurable disease, lack of mobility, and the constant drain you become to your family. If you lived as an independant capable person all of your life, this would be cruel and inhuman in your personal view. Under the current laws, you are stuck with it.

I do support euthanasia. I honestly do not believe in the idea of life being sacred. Cows are sacred to some Hindi and those same cows suffer starvation and tuberculosis because of being too "sacred" to be care for properly. I believe that quality of life is more important than the quantity of life. With almost 7 billion people on the planet, things are getting a little crowded.

For now, I have a good quality of life. But should I lose a large percentage of my mental and physical well-being, I would like to be take out behind the barn and shot, like an old hound dog. Currently the laws say I would have to drag myself out there and if I miss, I am going to jail.

Call me weird, but if we have places where people can get help to start life, and places they can go to end lives they have started, there should also be places where people can go to get help in ending their own life.

[Xander67]

The use of a Living Will to insist upon the withholding of medicine or medical treatment falls under the definition of ‘Passive Euthanasia’. I understand that for various reasons, religious and historic, some people do not like the term euthanasia.

Essentially I do not see the difference between arranging for my own death by writing out implicit instructions to stop medical intervention and deciding that today I will die by an equally passive means, such as hypothermia, they both achieve the same result by the exercise of a conscious decision.

No, I haben't seen 'The Sea Inside', can you give us some details please?

Feeding tubes and respirators are considered artificial means.

If a person can no longer eat and swallow for themselves, drilling a hole in their stomach and shoveing a G-tube into their belly allows for a pump to force a can of Isomil, prohealth, or whatever have you, into their digestive system so that the body can receive nutrition...

That person has the right to say whether or not he or she wishes to have one of those if they get to that point. If a medical facility inserts a G-Tube to facilitate tube feeding against a person's wishes.. then that facility is guilty of abuse and can be sued for violating a patients rights.

Reguardless of what anyone believes or what religion or philosophy says, it is the law and if Medical facilities break the law, they either get fined or shut down depending on the circumstances.