Very interesting story.When I was stationed in N. Ireland, Army Intelligence and a handfull of seconded members of the Parachute Regiment were tracking a sniper in the county I was based in. They snatched anyone off the streets they suspected of being involved or who might know the whereabouts of the sniper and those harbouring her. Eventually they were pointed in the direction of a local pub. They took the landlord and his son in for questioning, but had to release them due to lack of evidence.
The shootings continued for the next month, but the net was closing on her. Once they'd identified who she was, they began shadowing her. She died in a shoot-out at a petrol station near to the pub under surveillance. They re-visited the pub with an official warrant, ransacked th building and uncovered her rifle.
The landlord was sent to prison, but the son was released without charge; despite evidence pointing towards his guilt being found in the sniper's car. Later on that year, he was found in his hotel room, dead from the neck down. It's no secret that Army Intelligence knew how to inflict this frightening handicap, as it was used as a terror tactic against the IRA. He was nineteen years old, and couldn't face life with no sensory feeling below his shoulders. Someone helped him on his way to the other side.
Do you think that you could live with such a handicap? Honestly?
To answer your question -- No! I would beg to be euthanized rather than to live that way.
I believe very strongly in the right to euthanasia. I have for many years supported the Hemlock Society and I consider Dr. Jack Kevorkian to be one of the few real heroes of our time. In my opinion it's time to die when there is nothing left to live for and the only question I have about that is the best way to do it.
If I had nothing left to live for and the choice were available to me I would put my financial affairs in order, pay in advance for respectful disposal of my corpse, and ask to be gradually set adrift in an increasingly potent narcotic stupor until totally unconscious and then terminated. A painless, intensely pleasurable exit.
I've read that suicide prevention is a priority concern in most American prisons, which I regard as insidiously cruel. Offenders facing long prison terms should be granted the option of euthanasia rather than being forced to endure what probably is sheer psychological torture.
I wonder if access to euthanasia might serve as a deterrent to many homicides, inasmuch as many homicides are outer-directed suicides (and many suicides are inner-directed homicides).
And while on this subject it occurs to me that the rate of suicide among our active military personnel is absolutely stunning! I heard that more of our troops commit suicide than are killed in actual combat. Can this be true? I was in the military in the mid-1950s and I can't recall ever hearing about a single suicide.
This is an amazing statistic: Military suicides rise to a record 349, topping number of troops killed in combat - The Washington Post
Something is very, very wrong and this situation needs to be closely examined.
If I were in same position as he was; and I had no dependents - though I can't imagine how such a conditionwould render me able to provide for anyone - I'd seek to end my life along the lines you've described.
However, I disagree with allowing convicted felons to end their lives through euthanasia. They're incarcerated for a reason - punishment for their crimes. For instance, if I were left to decide if a drink driver whose selfishness had put someone in a wheelchair should be allowed to end the psychological torture incarceration incurs, I'd be inclined to refuse their request. They've disabled someone, so they should suffer the consequences of their crime.
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