I read this public opinion on euthanasia, the author's father had had cancer, they sent him home with pain killers, where his end was loud and messy (he kept screaming out of pain until he shot himself), causing great anxiety and grief to his immediate family. The author noted that, had euthanasia been a possibility, their father had instead passed away peacefully, his family around his bedside.

The arguments against euthanasia I've encountered are:

1. Euthanasia? More like euthaNAZIa!
2. Why don't they just commit suicide?
3. God doesn't allow it.
4. People who say they want to die may not be fit to judge whether that's really what they want.
5. You can't be sure whether someone who is in a lot of irreversible pain but can't express his willingness toward euthanasia wants it.

What I think:

1. Dis...
2. ...regarded.
3. While this doesn't make sense or mean anything to me, I know it does to a great number of people. If you feel this way, then surely you oppose the death penalty as well? I'm glad if you do, but if you don't then it's just hypocritical. At any rate, in my opinion we shouldn't base reason on anyone's religious beliefs. Especially if these beliefs oppose humane treatment of people.
4. This is why they have doctors and psychologists who evaluate people. And a doctor will know if someone is really in great pain.
5. This is where they consult the patient's family, just like they do now before "unplugging" a patient.

I strongly hope they legalize euthanasia here in Finland, and I believe that they will eventually.

So what do you think?

You got me.

only god has the right to decide who lives and who dies!


lol

Well, I certainly don't want to be in a hospital about to recover and then someone decides to get all euthanasia on my arse.

Other than that, why not.

Suicide Booths from Futurama would work.

Yeah, me neither. But they don't do euthanasia if you're about to recover, even if you want it.

To make someone live in irreversable overhwhelming pain is an incredibly cruel thing to do.

It will still be a long time before it's legalized if it is ever legalized.
But it's not just a touchy subject morale wise. Theres also the possibility of a greedy family offing you so they can to the inheritance and things like that.

This is where I envy animals, if your beloved pet is in a lot of pain and too old to even move nowadays, you just take them to the vet. I was forced to do this with my chihuahua only a month ago. It hurt a lot emotionally because even though he's 'just' a dog he was still very much apart of my family, hell I was closer to him then I was most of my family anyway.

A few months my grandmother spend her last week on this earth writhing in absolute agony. Everyone knew she was going to die, everyone knew she was in tremondous pain. But all we could do was watch.
I couldn't handle that, I spend a while with her but left and didn't come back. I tried to do my best as thinking of her as already dead.
It was absolute torture, torture for me, torture to the rest of my family and torture to her.

I wasn't actually planning to say any of that when I started this thread. But it's been said now and since it's finally off my chest I'm not going to delete it.

Point being sometimes euthanasia is necassary.

Not necessarily the case... By religious belief, the death penalty is allowed if the safety of the public is at risk (*cough*m.jackson*cough* :p). Euthanasia, at least as far as unplugging the patient from life support goes, is allowed at the patient's or patient's caretaker's discretion should the means of keeping them alive become extraordinary (high cost, high risk, ... forgot the other criteria -- it's been a year since learning that stuff). And not to revive a dead old topic (but rather to provide an example), but that's why many elite religious people (or at least my mom anyway) were against unplugging Terry Schaivo -- food and water are basic needs of the body, and not extraordinary at all.

wtf?!? I can't begin to fathom why someone would want euthanasia when they're almost recovered

Someone who is going to die and is in a great deal of pain should have the right to die as comfrtably as possible.

That's a pretty perfect summary right there.

Here's something I've never understood. If it's "humane" to euthanase a beloved family pet because it's in a great deal of pain, why does it seem to be the opposite for humans?

I have nothing to add.

Then why the hell did you post it?

Post count boosting oh la la la la!

we do the humane thing and put suffering animals to sleep. why treat people so differently? do we really want to see our family members suffer so much?

i'd do the jail time if i had to help put one of my family members to sleep.
robert latimer went to jail for this. and i respect him.
please read at least the first couple of paragraphs.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/latimer/

Euthanasia? Why not? Otherwise, there will be no people left in Asia when the old die.

lolololololololoololol

LOOL

Who the heck cares? If they say they want it, that's their own fault. I'm all for it. Our population's too high anyway, and if I was ever paralysed or something (not necessarily even in pain), I'd probably want to kill myself.

Why not anything?

It's a good idea. And it's up to the individuals involved, and no one else. A lot like abortion.

And if you say only god has the right to decide who lives and dies: Tell that to the united states army.

but god blesses the USA and god is on their side so...

[QUOTE=Darth Evad]but god blesses the USA and god is on their side so...[/QUOTE]

No, wait, that was Iraq.

"Only God can control life, but any idiot with a frying pan can control death."

The reason being, humans value themselves as higher beings than animals. We're superior, therefore, it's ok.

I have to say I agree, why force someone who consciously, and soberly wishes to die to suffer until they are dead? It's just agony on the person in pain, and worry on those related to him.

I think it also saves the person who is dying and the families of the dying a lot of grief.

Face it, no matter how "manly" you are, everyone is afraid of death to some degree. Whether it be HOW they are going to die, WHEN they are going to die, and sometimes what happenes after they die.

Think about it.. If euthanasia is legalized, it saves the person dying a lot of grief and worrying.. You know you're going to die soon, and you've got no idea when it will happen. That's got to be a lot of stress on the dying person.

Same goes for the families, they want the person to die peacefully, but they don't want them to die. It's just so sudden, you're having a good day, you're doing your business, then you get a call that your mom or dad has died. You just can never prepare for that moment, no matter the scenario.

But at least, if the person has a set death by euthanasia, the families and dying can make those final preparations to say "Goodbye" the proper way that so many of us very rarely get to have.

actually, Temp. it doesn't have to do with being "manly"

It has to do with having faith. Death doesn't fear me. I do hope it doesn't hurt when I finally go, but even if it does, it will only be for a little while... an instant really compared to eternity.

LET THE DIE IF THEY WANT <---- want being the important factor here.

after all, 6 BILLION PEOPLE IS MIRACLE ENOUGH

Thats all i need to say really.

if(getThingFlags(source) & 0x8){
  do her}
elseif(getThingFlags(source) & 0x4){
  do other babe}
else{
  do a dude}

LOL!

You've.. never heard that saying? I see at least one bumper sticker a week that says that.

I dunno, if they're in the hospital suffering from an agonizing disease it would seem to me pretty obvious that God is doing his darndest to off them...

I hate to be the doctor who performs euthanasia on people.

I agree so much...sometimes people act like humans are an endangered species.

Hehe. *blam*

Lucky Him.

I thought it was a good album. They had a lot of hits on it ("Train of Consequences", "A Tout la Monde", "Reckoning Day"). What? OHHHH...EUTHanasia. Gotcha...

Well, I'm against it personally (which is another reason for my signature). I believe that the child should somehow be put up for adoption rather than aborted.

What child? Autopilot off, autopilot off!

Right, Massassi, nevermind. ENJOY the sinster ducks then. Or something.