Assisted Suicide: Euthanasia....Mercy or killing?

Assisted suicide is the process by which an individual, who may otherwise be incapable, is provided with the means (drugs or equipment) to commit suicide. In some cases, the terms aid in dying or death with dignity are preferred.  

The term euthanasia refers to an act that ends a life in a painless manner, performed by someone other than the patient. This may include withholding common treatments resulting in death, removal of the patient from life support, or the use of lethal substances or forces to end the life of the patient.



How do you feel about these practices? Are they merciful? Or are we playing God?
Should assisted suicide remain illegal in your opinion?


                                                                      PMM

The problem here is WHO gets to "assist."  The wife who is sick of her husband's gambling?  The daughter who wants to inherit the moolah?  The son who has a social cause to prove? 

The terminally ill "kill" themselves all the time by not eating.  A common practice you see in Hospice setting for example. 

Since the one who "assists" is such a very, very problematic position, I would have to say NO to assited suicide.

Once again it's someone else's choice to make...not ours and who are we to say you can't kill yourself? Unless it directly effects me than it's not my say......I think the only time it is legal is if your are dying anyways, and why not......if I knew 100% that I was gonna die a slow and painful death with much suffering and NO possibility of recovering, then YES.....I would want that option available to me. I don't see that as killing at all....if you saw a bug that got stepped on squiggling around with half it's insides hanging out, would you squish it and put it out of it's misery, or sit there and watch it to see how long it will take for it to stop moving?????  And for those of you who say they would squish it, do you feel better that you helped the little bugger out or sit there and say, damn i just killed it!!! We have been doing this to animals for years now. If something is wrong that can't be fixed we put it down, if it's injured and in pain....we put it down, and this is what we call being humane, so why not do it with humans?

The terminally ill "kill" themselves all the time by not eating.  A common practice you see in Hospice setting for example. 

My daughter is a Hospice nurse and she has told me this same thing many times. God bless her I don't know how she deals with it but she loves her job. I don't know how to answer the question but I do know my personal feelings about it. If I was terminally ill, I would think it was an act of mercy and I would never ask anyone to assist me unless the suffering was unbearable. Could I assist someone myself, I don't think so.

I think there are two separate issues we are mixing.  First, the RIGHT to die.  I think most people would agree a terminally ill person has the right to chose that....self starvation for example.

But, the topic was ASSISTED suicide.  My point keeps coming back to WHO gets to be the one to ASSIST.  How in the world would we regulate who the mercy killers were in the USA?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but in order to assist a suicide don't you have to be some kind of professional in the medical field??......That's who should and maybe do assist with that...............

Satans......Right..that is what I am talking about.  Who gets to be the "mercy killer" in the medical field?  Who decides?  How much power do they have?  How will they be regulated?  Some HUGE ethical questions here.

Now...if Obama's heath care package goes through, perhaps the "Death Pannels" will decide! 

I have "Heard" about people on an operating table and when the surgeon opened them, they then saw just how advanced the disease (Usually cancer) had advanced, they'd tell the anestelogist to let the patient "Sleep a bit deeper" (In other words, gas them to death)

This was before the question of assisted suicide came up. I believe the law in Oregon permits this to occur, if you can find a doctor who'll prescribe the drugs to do this.

Personally, I'm split as to either helping them die, or trying drugs which do kill the pain. I know some cancers (Bone) are terribly hard to nullify the pain and it can be very painful death.

But yes, I'd leave it to the patient and of course a 3 doctor panel to decide IF the disease is a terminal one.

It is said in the bible one should "Choose Life" but when that comes to a pain that leaves you moaning hour by hour racked with pain no drug can fully take away, then how would you be if it was you?