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If someone is deadly ill and decides he wants to die he should be given, like in Switzerland, a glass of poison he can drink by himself. There's an organisation, DIGNITAS who is helping you with everything if you're a member.

If somebody isn't able to drink the poison for himself, not a member of the family should help but someone else but not a doctor... I don't know.

But how to decide if someone's in coma and can't speak for himself/herself? Would you "kill" him if the doctor says he will never ever awake?

"Sie wollen nichts anderes. Sie wollen kämpfen! Sie sind Soldaten! Fucking Wahnsinnige!" - Noel G.

I'd be perfectly willing to allow the general public to commit euthanasia so long as 2 other relatives/loved ones agree to the decision. The decision shouldn't be that of the patient alone. There are diseases so horrific and painful that I think it goes without saying that patients would be more eager to commit suicide in these situations.

This isn't a good thing. Many people with suicidal tendencies are glad years later for not deciding to go through with the actual suicide. They obviously are going through some very tough traumatic times and can't take the emotional pain that goes with it. The point is that they got over it, and they had a change of heart.

Some people stricken with a horrible painful disease wish to die, but had more time passed, they may not feel the same way. Of course, for terminal patients, postponing a painful disease is useless. There is a point where patients suffer a sort of "insanity" where they want to die in a situation they wouldn't normally say that. Just like you wouldn't give an insane person a knife (because insane people might make more irrational decisions than a sane person would), you wouldn't let a suffering patient kill himself or herself (because that decision too might be irrational) unless there was no possible cure.

If the world should blow itself up,the last audible voice would be an expert saying it can't be done

This post was edited by Hawkeye on Sep 10, 2002.

hmmmmmm.....Suicidal people (if due to emotional stress) are not ever a candidate for euthanasia.

I feel that if you have a painful disease that is terminal......or and this is a BIG/ or a condition that gives you no true quality of life you should be allowed an assisted termination.

I can see where you might want 2 family members, at least to agree if due to an unforeseen accident with no time to prepare.

I disagree that anyone should have any right to stop your wishes if you have had time to prepare and have legally signed an agreement that your wishes would be carried out when you give the word....

I feel in the case of the mentally incompetent..if they should contract a painful terminal disease that a set number of family members should be given the legal right to agree to euthanasia, and in the case of so many......no family.......then a judge, two doctors and perhaps another person in the legal or health field should have the legal right to sign for them.

quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Yes, I agree with GDW. No one can have the right to keep you from doing what is your will, especially if you are affected by a horrific disease.

Most of the times the loved ones would egoistically keep you alive, simply because they aren't ready to let you go. On the other hand, deciding for euthanasia is always a terribly complicated and hard matter, so your loved ones are expected to help you deciding for the better...

In the end it sounds like a cat who is attempting to bite his tail. What's right and what's wrong?

Italy no longer accepts illegal immigrants. Mr. B sink their boats!!!!!!!

This post was edited by andromacha on Sep 10, 2002.

Sigh.......you are so right in that, andromacha.........

I just want and wish the legal tools for euthanasia out there to stop miserable suffering if wanted.

You know.......push come to shove.....no matter the circumstances.......except in case the person cannot speak or arrange euthanasia for themselves if it did become legal.......does not mean YOU MUST choose it.......and some will not....

But for those with no hope of relief.....no cure in sight for them......dammit....it is humane..........

And I will tell you right now........even if became legal.....there WILL be health professionals who will choose NEVER or at times NOT to assist in euthanasia.

quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Similarly, I have seen scenes in many movies in which they show that a horse (or any other pet for that matter) is suffering from pain, and even though the owner loves the pet a lot, but just because they can not bear the pain of their beloved, they put the animal to death.

Now, that type of scene touches me a lot. I just can not imagine, how can one kill someone they love so much, just because the pain that animal is going through is unbearable?

I believe the same logic applies to euthanasia. First of all, suppose that the animal (or the person on bed) has no way to express what it/he/she wants to do. So, is it moral/ethical for their loved ones to take the decision of their life or death and exterminate them? I feel that the decision to live or die has to be of the person who is suffering. If the person can not express the pain or can not express the desire to die (or live), then one should not commit the murder (even though one can feel their pain)! The person might have a strong will that is keeping him/her alive, and he might wish to die fighting rather then just being put to death one fine day.

Love is blind, but marriage is a real eye opener.

To have an animal let be killed through an injection is worse then hell. I wish I never ever have to do something similar.

"Sie wollen nichts anderes. Sie wollen kämpfen! Sie sind Soldaten! Fucking Wahnsinnige!" - Noel G.

I had to decide to let my cat get killed. She was suffering from lung cancer, she did not eat anymore, didn't move around, she just lay at her favourite place wailing in pain. When I took her to the doctor he told me I could get her drugs to ease her pains which would prolong her life for a month, maybe two. What should I do?? What would you have done?
I took her back to the waiting room, talked to her for little while, kissed her goodbye, payed the doctors bill to kill her and left the place. It was the toughest decision I ever had to make in my life. She was 16 years old and I got her when she was 4 weeks old and I'm still asking myself if it was the right decision or not. She was just a cat, not a human being, but I loved her all the same, and there's not a single day passing that I'm not thinking of her and whether it was right or not. How much more difficult must a decision like this be if its your Mom or Dad who's lying on a bed not able to make his/her own decision?
Her name was Roxanne.

After decades of construction my website is finally up an running: www.kkds.de

This post was edited by Martin on Sep 10, 2002.

Her name was Roxanne.

You know, I think this reminds me of a song of yours...?

When life hands you a lemon, that's 40% of your RDA of vitamin C taken care of.

You know, I think this reminds me of a song of yours...?

Right, I wrote it in her memory a few days after her death. And you can tell its quite a sad song.

After decades of construction my website is finally up an running: www.kkds.de