Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide

[viocjit]

What do you think about euthanasia and assisted suicide ?

Euthanasia is killing someone who want to die and who is able to ask his / her euthanasia.
It can also be kill someone who can't express himself / herself. In this situation the person did write he / she want to die in some situations if he / she can't express what does he / she wants.

Assisted suicide is help someone to commit a suicide.

In my country (France) euthanasia and assisted suicide is illegal.
I thinks it's problematic because I consider everybody have the right to die if he / she want to die because his / her life is unbearable for this individual. Law must change.

In the name of what authorities of many countries forbid to people to be euthanized if they want.
In the name of what authorities of many countries forbid to people to have someone to help them to commit a suicide if they want.

I want to live and I want than people have the right to die if they want.
As my choice is to live I don't understand in the name of what people who want to die can't be allowed to be killed or helped to finish theirs lives.
My choice is to live but people who don't want to live can't ask help to die.

I want to live and I have this right. But people who want to die haven't the right to be helped for that.
I consider it's an inequality. I'm in good health and I want to stay alive but those in bad health who don't want to stay alive are forced to stay alive.

I hope these questions will be debated in parliaments of countries in which it can be legalized.

[Davin]

I think countries could start with legalizing it for late stages of terminal illnesses. Then slowly work down from there.

[viocjit]

I think countries could start with legalizing it for late stages of terminal illnesses. Then slowly work down from there.

I think you're right. As say the epigram "Roma wasn't build in a day".

[Magdalena]

This is such a sad topic.
I wouldn't want to be "in their shoes." I think it should be legal. People should have the right to end their life if they are terminally ill and they choose to. For those who can't express what he/she wants, I guess this is something you talk about with your loved ones when you're alive?

[Tank]

My life, my death, my choice.

[Bluenose]

My state of Victoria has recently passed a law allowing for "voluntary assisted dying".  The law deliberately does not use the emotionally charged terms assisted suicide or euthanasia.  There are a list of some 65 safeguards in place (I have no idea what they could all be) but one of the conditions is that the person must have a terminal illness with a likelihood that they will not survive for more than 12 months.  I do not think this law is perfect and I believe the religious idiots have had far too much influence in the drafting of the law, but it is a good start.  Frankly I fail to see how it is anybody else's business how a person with a terminal illness chooses to die and I think trying to keep people alive at all costs can be very cruel.

[Tom62]

Euthanasia in the Netherlands is regulated by the "Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide (Review Procedures) Act" which was passed in 2001 and took effect in 2002. It states that euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are not punishable if the attending physician acts in accordance with criteria of due care. These criteria concern the patient's request, the patient's suffering (unbearable and hopeless), the information provided to the patient, the absence of reasonable alternatives, consultation of another physician and the applied method of ending life. To demonstrate their compliance, the Act requires physicians to report euthanasia to a review committee.

The law allows medical review board to suspend prosecution of doctors who performed euthanasia when each of the following conditions are fulfilled:
- the patient's suffering is unbearable with no prospect of improvement
- the patient's request for euthanasia must be voluntary and persist over time (the request cannot be granted when under the influence of others, psychological illness or drugs)
- the patient must be fully aware of his/her condition, prospects, and options
- there must be consultation with at least one other independent doctor who needs to confirm the conditions mentioned above
- the death must be carried out in a medically appropriate fashion by the doctor or patient, and the doctor must be present
- the patient is at least 12 years old (patients between 12 and 16 years of age require the consent of their parents)

In February 2010 a citizens' initiative called Out of Free Will further demanded that all Dutch people over 70 who feel tired of life should have the right to professional help in ending it. The organisation started collecting signatures in support of this proposed change in Dutch legislation. A number of prominent Dutch citizens supported the initiative, including former ministers and artists, legal scholars and physicians. However, this initiative has never been legalised.  In 2016, the Dutch Health Minister of the Second Rutte cabinet announced plans to draft a law that would allow assisted suicide in cases without a terminal illness, if the person feels they have completed life.

[Icarus]

 Euthanasia or assisted suicide has been a delicate topic here in the US.  Despite the protestations of some of the more opinionated religionists, Legal euthanasia has been addressed and made legal in a few of our states.  Oregon was the first, then Washington and now Montana.  California is flirting with the idea of permitting "end of life choices".

We have a group that calls themselves: Compassion and Choices. They have fought long and hard against the absurdity that suicide or assisted death violates the will of God. 
The former name of the group was: The Hemlock Society.  That name had such social, and religious, implications that the members found it better to change their name to ....Compassion and Choices.

You can find them on the internet if you like. Compassion and Choices.com