re: Assisted Suicide, why are people so against it?

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Posted by tduecen If someone wants to die, and they can reason why they should then let them... If someone is sick and suffering, or maybe they are sick and they just don't want to suffer, then let them go.

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I agree 100%. If they want to die, let them go. But don't involve the state.

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Outside of that, no it shouldn't be an option.

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I think they should, is it selfish? Probably but many people just can not cope with certain things. Now maybe they should do the whole wait a year like divorce to see if it is really what someone wants rather than making a rash decision but still.

Giving someone enough morphine (or similar) to die comfortably is fairly noncontroversial, and pain management is a major part of hospice care. Giving someone enough to end their life, though, has some valid points from each side. Firstly, the Hippocratic Oath starts with, "First, do no harm..."
Stopping a patient from breathing permanently could definitely be considered harm. On the other hand, allowing someone to suffer through their ultimate end from a tough, chronic illness could also be considered harm, mainly from an emotional/psychological standpoint. In the end, the vast majority of people fall somewhere in between the two, and the majority of hospice care is geared aggressive comfort measures. As to the bitter end of the patient with a particularly painful terminal illness and giving them enough of a medication with that it cuts their "life" short a few minutes/hours, at that point, I believe the majority of people fall on the side of believing that to be ethical. As to allowing terminally ill patients to elect to end their life before the suffering begins/peaks, I think it's just too controversial a subject to have a consensus opinion on, and the ethical debate of whether all life is worth living and has value comes into play. Again, there are rather valid points from both sides. I don't think they'll come together in those opinions, either.

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Posted by GetCocky11 People need to read up on the Oregon law and just see how heavily regulated it is. People just can't ask for the suicide medicine. It is a really tough process that above all requires a terminal illness.

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It's not what the law says that's a problem, it's that the law exists in the first place. Like I said above, giving the state any say so in people dying for any reason other than being convicted of a capital offense is a terrible idea. This is a power we never should give the state. I'm sure the Oregon law is very logical and well laid out. But it sets a precedent that puts the state into a position to be involved in decisions it should never be involved in.

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People who support legislative measures against assisted suicide for the terminally ill, are disgusting human beings. It's hard to imagine someone would be that evil, but there are plenty of people out there that are.

If you don't support assisted suicide, fine, don't participate, but don't take that option away from someone who is suffering with a terminal illness.

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People who support legislative measures against assisted suicide for the terminally ill, are disgusting human beings. It's hard to imagine someone would be that evil, but there are plenty of people out there that are.

If you don't support assisted suicide, fine, don't participate, but don't take that option away from someone who is suffering with a terminal illness.

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You know folks off themselves literally daily without any "legislative measures", right?

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You know folks off themselves literally daily without any "legislative measures", right?

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You know I said people who support denying assisted suicide via laws, right? If it were up to me, there would be no legislative means needed. If a terminally ill person needed help ending their lives, the person assisting would be immune to prosecution.