Assisted suicide.

[manifold]

No need.

I obviously scored.

Five hole to boot.

 

[ReillyT]

Interesting.

That the best argument for the end of the death penalty, too.

Wrong again dumbshit. But do keep trying.

RGS, why do you even engage in a message board if you are unwilling to discuss anything? Editec provided an apparent inconsistency in a position against assisted suicide but for the death penalty. This is an inconsistency that you invited with your statement against assisted suicide. By all means, argue that an inconsistency does not in fact exist. Argue that the two situations are not analogous. Argue anything, but don't resort to insulting someone who raises a valid point because you are too lazy or stupid to try to come up with a coherent point in response.

 

[Zeddicus]

Life is the only freedom we have, and i think under certain circumstances that the freedom to end your life is yours.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

RGS, why do you even engage in a message board if you are unwilling to discuss anything? Editec provided an apparent inconsistency in a position against assisted suicide but for the death penalty. This is an inconsistency that you invited with your statement against assisted suicide. By all means, argue that an inconsistency does not in fact exist. Argue that the two situations are not analogous. Argue anything, but don't resort to insulting someone who raises a valid point because you are too lazy or stupid to try to come up with a coherent point in response.

Nothing to argue. It is NOT a valid point. The two are NOT even close to the same.

 

[Rhys]

A friendly doctor helped my Grandfather on his way, and one of my friends nipped over to Switzerland when he found he had cancer recently, had a small party and then legally slung his hook. That is okay, but I don't think it should be made too easy, or kindly parents would be thinking, 'Better if the kids had it all now', and unkind ones playing guilt games - 'They don't call round every week, so I'll legally top myself and then they'll be sorry!' Etcetera - people can play games with anything, plus there are the already-mentioned dangers of murder, heavily-encouraged suicide and the like. I reckon it should be kept informal, with doses of pain-killer being suitably-increased and so on, and sensible coroners checking to see if everything was above-board and truly wanted. I don't think it is right for the society to put its whole weight behind killing - which is why I'm against execution too. It should be caring, tactful and very, very careful.

 

[indago]

Dr Grump wrote:
--------------------------------------------------
Cause God says it's wrong! Dontcha know!
--------------------------------------------------

It is written, in the Book of Ecclesiasticus, one of the Apocryphal books of the Bible, Chapter 30 v 15: "Health and fitness are better than any gold, and bodily vigour than boundless prosperity. There is no wealth to compare with health of body, no festivity to equal a joyful heart. Better death than a life of misery, eternal rest than a long illness."

 

[watermark]

The potential for misuse and murder are to high. And at what point do we allow people to kill themselves? When ever they want? When ever a "lovedone" convinces them it is best? Bad idea all round.

How about whenever they have a terminal illness and will die in excruciating pain and suffering in two months anway?

 

[p kirkes]

The cost of treatment of a terminally ill person rises very fast in the last year or so of a life here in America with no corresponding improvement in the patients condition. So if one wants to leave their fortune to the kids do it before that last year or so or shield your assets from the medical profession. In their zeal to perserve life they will drain your bank account. That just the way it is.

I agree with RGS that assisted suicide will bring abuses. However, if one wants to end their own life then that's another matter. The medieval Japanese warrior class held to suicide in case of impugned honor, or opposition to a royal policy among other reasons. But it was a voluntary albiet societal driven act. The consequences of not committing "seppuku" was unbearable shame.

I asked my insurance agent about suicide as a cause of death in my life policy and he told me the company, State Farm, will pay the benefits if the policy was held more than six months prior. May vary by company, check the policy, things change.

We are talking only about very sick, pain ridden people, with little or no hope for relief and a quality of life that is unbearable, physically, emotionally and financially, elderly or not, right? And not about people who are just fed up or experienced life's reverses.

I, personnally am constrained, so regardless of the pain or the enevitable outcome I couldn't take my life or be a party to ending anothers. With animals I have no such constraints.

 

[editec]

The humanitarian argument against assisted suicide is that it will cheapen life, and likely migrate from merely assisting willing suicides to encouraging suicides.

The humanitarian argument for assisted suicde is to eleviate human suffering and of course the agument that each person is the master of his or her own destiny and to deny people that right is a violation of that principle.

Both arguments have merit, of course.

We are informed that:

Data Collection

The MCBS is a panel survey of a complex weighted multilevel random sample of Medicare beneficiaries. A structured questionnaire is administered at four-month intervals to collect all medical costs by payer and service. Medicare costs are validated by claims records.


Principal Findings
From 1992 to 1996, mean annual medical expenditures (1996 dollars) for persons aged 65 and older were $37,581 during the last year of life versus $7,365 for nonterminal years. Mean total last-year-of-life expenditures did not differ greatly by age at death. However, non-Medicare last-year-of-life expenditures were higher and Medicare last-year-of-life expenditures were lower for those dying at older ages. Last-year-of-life expenses constituted 22 percent of all medical, 26 percent of Medicare, 18 percent of all non-Medicare expenditures, and 25 percent of Medicaid expenditures.


Conclusions
While health services delivered near the end of life will continue to consume large portions of medical dollars, the portion paid by non-Medicare sources will likely rise as the population ages. Policies promoting improved allocation of resources for end-of-life care may not affect non-Medicare expenditures, which disproportionately support chronic and custodial care.

Given the above, one can see how, in situations where health care dollars are scarce, and the society is picking up those costs, society might easily elected to move from assisting suicides to encouraging them.

As our medical care becomes increasing socialized (which I think is inevitable regardless of how any of us feel about it) it is not only likely that we will legalize assisted suicides, but we will inevitably ENCOURAGE assisted suicides in those whose prognosis is both terminal and whose end of life care becomes EXPENSIVE.