Assisted suicide.

• Lan wrote on 2010-11-26 02:05
  Your view?
  
  I should be against it somehow but is it so wrong for someone who has suffered and just wants to end it to be able to get help to end it all?
  
  Example a hospital patient in pain wants the nurse to pull the plug to end his agony.
• Navy wrote on 2010-11-26 02:20
  There's a movie based on the example you put.
  It's called 'You don't know Jack'
  based on a true story of a former doctor who was helping patients who were in so much pain that they didn't want to live anymore. Everyone thought what he was doing was murder and thought he was crazy.
  
  Heres my opinion on a matter such as that : I think everyone and everything should be given a chance at life. (I'm prolife when it comes to abortion)
  But I think death should be a choice too. Of course for the own persons life.
  Yes, suicide is selfish and all you are doing is hurting others but I think it should be a choice.
  A lot of you may disagree with my views.
  But most people for abortion are against suicide.
  So you would take away an infants chance at life but wont allow someone who is in mental or physical pain their chance at death.
  Doesn't make much sense to me.
  It may sound dramatic but if suicide was a accepted choice I would, it's not that I'm depressed, my life is alright. But I've always wondered if life was really worth living.
  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
• Shirayuki wrote on 2010-11-26 02:20
  I should say no, but I'm gonna say yes.
  
  Religion-wise, its blah blah blah, no.
  
  Otherwise, I'd say yes because if you're suffering a pain greater than death, then why deal with it. I'm not saying everyone take the easy way out, but it should be available to those who would benefit from it.
• EndlessDreams wrote on 2010-11-26 02:25
  lol... I spent like a semester on this issue alone.
  
  I would say that it should be ideally settled case by case bases between the patient, the family, and the hospital staff involved. Of course, this isn't always the case, and state laws can tie up the process to make it drag out longer or prohibit it.
• Cide wrote on 2010-11-26 02:26
  for terminally-ill patients with no hope of recovery, i don't see why not. for the mentally ill, however, well..
  
  if you want to see how it should NOT be taken care of, i suggest watching this documentary : YouTube - Reverend Death - 1/9 (part 1, just find the other parts on the related videos as you go)
• Ruquion wrote on 2010-11-26 02:27
  Well, there are situations in which I'd agree to assisted suicide, especially cases where lives could be saved like the case mentioned below.
  
  

  Quote from Sankaku:

  In an unusual show of mercy, Japanese courts have ruled that a mother who killed her own son under the most tragic of circumstances will not have to serve a prison sentence.
  The case began with the attempted suicide of a 40-year-old Tokyo man, married with 2 children of middle school age.
  The man attempted to kill himself on the roof of his workplace, but botched his hanging and was reduced to a vegetable.
  He left a note for his loved ones urging them to move on:
  

  “I was tricked by a strange woman.”
  “Please forget about me.”
  “Lastly, I really, really do love you. Thank you for everything up to now.”
  

  Doctors stabilised him on life support, but considered that “the chances of him ever regaining consciousness are basically nil.”
  Japan does not recognise euthanasia and prohibits refusal of treatment to patients in a “persistent vegetative state,” so he would likely have to remain a vegetable for the rest of his natural life, or until his unlikely awakening.
  However, Japanese health insurance does not apply to suicides unless mental illness is involved.
  As a result of this, the family were presented with estimated receipts totaling some $35,000 for the 10 days of treatment rendered so far, with the future cost of keeping the man alive on a ventilator estimated at $1,000-$3,500 for each day he continued to live.
  Lawyers were consulted, but could offer no relief – the family would have to pay until the day he finally passed on, whenever that might be.
  Faced with this incredible financial burden the family despaired.
  His wife begged doctors to stop the ruinous treatment, both because of the cost and his own inferred wishes: “Please stop actively treating him. If it’s impossible I’ll take him of the ventilator myself,” but doctors steadfastly refused to consider ceasing treatment as brain death had not occurred.
  Soon after, his 67-year-old mother left the wife a note one morning: “Hold on, Kyoko. I’m his mother, I bore him into this world, so it’s my responsibility.” She took a kitchen knife with her to the hospital.
  Placing a picture of her son taken on holiday 20 years ago on his breast, she stabbed him 4 times in the chest, killing him.
  His mother later spoke of her sorrow:
  [QUOTE]“The sense of loss I have at my son’s death, the fact that I killed him, it overwhelms me. I’ll be atoning for the rest of my life.”
  “There was no way I could let his wife take him off the ventilator. As his mother, I’m responsible. I’ve led a long and happy life, so I resolved that my life is over, and I would do it.”
  

  She herself was no stranger to the plight of the aged or disabled, having for 20 years volunteered at a care facility.
  In the courtroom, the man’s wife wept as she saw the mother’s now gaunt frame in the dock: “If she hadn’t done it, I would have.”
  She begged the court for mercy: “For a mother who loved her son so to have killed him, there can be no greater anguish. Please return her to her husband’s side – he would have wanted that.”
  “What would you have done if you were in the same position?” asked the defence in its closing statements to a panel of 6 lay judges and 3 professional judges.
  Judges found her guilty of murder, but mercifully sentenced her to only 3 years (the prosecution sought 5, the usual minimum for murder) – they also suspended the sentence for 5 years, meaning she will go free without serving any time in prison, assuming she can refrain from killing any more of her offspring for 5 years[/QUOTE]
• Navy wrote on 2010-11-26 02:28

  Quote from Shirayuki;229066:

  I should say no, but I'm gonna say yes.
  
  Religion-wise, its blah blah blah, no.
  
  Otherwise, I'd say yes because if you're suffering a pain greater than death, then why deal with it. I'm not saying everyone take the easy way out, but it should be available to those who would benefit from it.

  
  
  the exact reason I'm agnostic.
  I don't get involved with religion.
• Piko wrote on 2010-11-26 02:29
  I wouldn't do it. If I was in their position, I wouldn't cower out on life just because I'm in extreme pain with no hope of recovery. I'd take the pain so that my friends and family will know that I didn't die asking for death, but died fighting against it.
• Navy wrote on 2010-11-26 03:10

  Quote from Cide;229073:

  for terminally-ill patients with no hope of recovery, i don't see why not. for the mentally ill, however, well..
  
  if you want to see how it should NOT be taken care of, i suggest watching this documentary : YouTube - Reverend Death - 1/9 (part 1, just find the other parts on the related videos as you go)

  
  
  There's a big difference from choosing your own death
  and being manipulated into having him kill you.
  which he was doing.
  he was edging these people's deaths on. |:
  
  I believe in right-for-death
  but only if you've had time to think about it, and by time I mean, years.
  Not a hastily decision because something didn't go right today.
  I believe in it for those in those who are truly willing to give up their lives.
• EndlessDreams wrote on 2010-11-26 03:18

  Quote from Pikablu;229077:

  I wouldn't do it. If I was in their position, I wouldn't cower out on life just because I'm in extreme pain with no hope of recovery. I'd take the pain so that my friends and family will know that I didn't die asking for death, but died fighting against it.

  
  
  What if your very slow death cost your family thousands of dollars per day? :lol:
  
  Lets also pretend that you have a wife and children, and they will have to pay for it.
• Kazuni wrote on 2010-11-26 03:23
  I believe that it's their choice to ask for death, but you shouldn't be asking a nurse who has little to do with you. Ask a family member and your doctor, and only if you know you have no hope left.
  
  If you're not sick to the point where you won't get better, suck it up. Life's not worth throwing away like that.
• Phanterz wrote on 2010-11-26 03:32

  Quote from Kazuni;229158:

  I believe that it's their choice to ask for death, but you shouldn't be asking a nurse who has little to do with you. Ask a family member and your doctor, and only if you know you have no hope left.
  
  If you're not sick to the point where you won't get better, suck it up. Life's not worth throwing away like that.

  
  
  Of course, there are other reasons to suicide besides being too sick to recover.
  
  I honestly think that since we weren't asked whether or not we wanted to live, we shouldn't be prohibited from death. With no exceptions.
• Navy wrote on 2010-11-26 03:42

  Quote from Kazuni;229158:

  I believe that it's their choice to ask for death, but you shouldn't be asking a nurse who has little to do with you. Ask a family member and your doctor, and only if you know you have no hope left.
  
  If you're not sick to the point where you won't get better, suck it up. Life's not worth throwing away like that.

  
  
  Why should one be forced to live with constant pain, and why should one be forced to suck it up. We don't allow people to have a choice in the matter, instead we lock them away in a mental facility until they've been forced to change their mind, whether they want to or not.
• TA wrote on 2010-11-26 03:47
  Who else thinks $1,000-$3,500 a day is some major bull****?
  
  Our healthcare costs are way too high... healthcare should just be free everywhere and governments should pay for it. To be able to live or not shouldn't be a choice people have to make.
• BobYoMeowMeow wrote on 2010-11-26 04:12
  it should be allowed
  especially under cases of being hospitalized
  hospitals are businesses so the fees are high