Physician assisted suicide

[BillyV]

It's people! Soylent Green is made from people!
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Sp-VFBbjpE]IT'S PEOPLE! - YouTube[/ame]

You know, the idea of physician assisted suicide seems like a good one until you realize that the ability to decide when to die also burdens the individual with the responsibility to justify his existence, something no one should ever have to do. In cases of "short prognosis terminal illness" as someone described it I think it's probably fine; any other use leads to a slippery slope whereby inconvenient circumstances could put pressure on someone, either from close relatives or their own sense of duty, to end their life.

 

[uscitizen]

Do you feel terminally ill patients should have the right to ask doctors to help them die? Do we as a nation spend too much time trying to keep people alive that we have abandoned the notion of allowing people to have a dignified death?

As long as there is more money to be gained from the patient or the government they should be kept alive.

 

[Katzndogz]

Do you feel terminally ill patients should have the right to ask doctors to help them die? Do we as a nation spend too much time trying to keep people alive that we have abandoned the notion of allowing people to have a dignified death?

As long as there is more money to be gained from the patient or the government they should be kept alive.

And when those same people start costing the government money, they will die, quickly.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

QW -

I think you are näive because you think everyone has the physical and mental capacity to score lethal drugs while they are in chronic pain.

You are alo näive because you think ordinary people should know where and how to buy and use a drug like heroin. I've never given myself an injection of anything, and have no idea how to do it.

Have you ever met any drug addicts? Most of them don't have the physical or mental capacity to tie their shoes, yet they have no problem scoring drugs. The problem here is you think the fact that making something illegal means it is hard to get. On top of that, drugs are hardly the only way for a person to die if they choose. Anyone with the mental capacity to choose to die is capable of killing themselves. Doctors should preserve life first and always. People have a right to refuse medical treatment.

If you really support people having choice you should tell the government to stop telling people what is legal, and illegal, for them to do to themselves. All drugs should be available without a doctor.

 

[uscitizen]

Do you feel terminally ill patients should have the right to ask doctors to help them die? Do we as a nation spend too much time trying to keep people alive that we have abandoned the notion of allowing people to have a dignified death?

As long as there is more money to be gained from the patient or the government they should be kept alive.

And when those same people start costing the government money, they will die, quickly.

Au contrare. Virtually all the money spent on Meidcare and medicaid goes into private health care industry pockets. boosts the economy you know.
And then the nursing homes that have patients on medicare and the govt/healthcare industry gets the poor persons home.

 

[AmyNation]

I don't buy into the slippery slope argument. Physician assistated suicide should come into play when a person no longer has the means to take their own life. Typically people fight illnesses like cancer, and by the time they get to the point where they are ready for death, they no longer have the ability to help themselves.

As to a physicians oath, the words "first do no harm" come to mind. There comes a time in the process of death where you learn that the most harmful thing you can do for someone is ask them to live.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

I don't buy into the slippery slope argument. Physician assistated suicide should come into play when a person no longer has the means to take their own life. Typically people fight illnesses like cancer, and by the time they get to the point where they are ready for death, they no longer have the ability to help themselves.

As to a physicians oath, the words "first do no harm" come to mind. There comes a time in the process of death where you learn that the most harmful thing you can do for someone is ask them to live.

You want doctors to kill people after a board determines they cannot kill themselves. Wouldn't it just be easier not to treat them in the first place? Think of all the money we would save.

 

[Jarlaxle]

My grandmother watched her brother and sister slip away into Alzheimer's. My great aunt lived for more than 10 years after her mind was completely lost. A better part of those years she spent drugged for her own safety. It was my grandmothers greatest fear, to end up like her siblings.

My grandmother told my wife and me that if she were ever "going crazy" (her words) and was goin g to end up in a "nut house" (again, her words), she wanted one of us to shoot her.

 

[AmyNation]

I don't buy into the slippery slope argument. Physician assistated suicide should come into play when a person no longer has the means to take their own life. Typically people fight illnesses like cancer, and by the time they get to the point where they are ready for death, they no longer have the ability to help themselves.

As to a physicians oath, the words "first do no harm" come to mind. There comes a time in the process of death where you learn that the most harmful thing you can do for someone is ask them to live.

You want doctors to kill people after a board determines they cannot kill themselves. Wouldn't it just be easier not to treat them in the first place? Think of all the money we would save.

I want doctors to be allowed to help people end their own lives. If I want to die, but am too weak or otherwise incapable of killing myself, I want my doctor to have the right to help me.

 

[AmyNation]

My grandmother watched her brother and sister slip away into Alzheimer's. My great aunt lived for more than 10 years after her mind was completely lost. A better part of those years she spent drugged for her own safety. It was my grandmothers greatest fear, to end up like her siblings.

My grandmother told my wife and me that if she were ever "going crazy" (her words) and was goin g to end up in a "nut house" (again, her words), she wanted one of us to shoot her.

My grandmother was a devout catholic, she would never take her own life. On her deathbed, she told me how grateful she felt that god had spared her the fate of her siblings.

My grandmother often volunteered at the home my aunt was placed in, but the last few years of my aunts life, my gram refused to actually go in and see her sister, it was just too painful for both of them.

 

[Jarlaxle]

QW -

I think you are näive because you think everyone has the physical and mental capacity to score lethal drugs while they are in chronic pain.

You are alo näive because you think ordinary people should know where and how to buy and use a drug like heroin. I've never given myself an injection of anything, and have no idea how to do it.

Have you ever met any drug addicts? Most of them don't have the physical or mental capacity to tie their shoes, yet they have no problem scoring drugs. The problem here is you think the fact that making something illegal means it is hard to get. On top of that, drugs are hardly the only way for a person to die if they choose. Anyone with the mental capacity to choose to die is capable of killing themselves. Doctors should preserve life first and always. People have a right to refuse medical treatment.

If you really support people having choice you should tell the government to stop telling people what is legal, and illegal, for them to do to themselves. All drugs should be available without a doctor.

Like many people, I have absolutely no idea how I would go about getting lethal drugs. I could certainly get my hands on pot, but that isn't of any use. I could get sleeping pills and alcohol, but that could easily end up with me in WORSE condition. (Whatever was already wrong PLUS kidney and/or liver damage.) If I can't use my shotgun, I'll take 50,000mg of morphine, please.

 

[Plasmaball]

Why is that you think people cannot kill themselves without involving another person? Do you know how easy it is to OD on easily available drugs?

Can you explain how easy it is for a quadraplegic?

Just as easy as it is for anyone else.

wow.....

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Do you feel terminally ill patients should have the right to ask doctors to help them die? Do we as a nation spend too much time trying to keep people alive that we have abandoned the notion of allowing people to have a dignified death?

If a doctor helps it is rightfully called murder. Or are you going to create the airtight law that prevents an over zealous or other minded Physician from killing someone and claiming they were asked to kill them?

 

[Quantum Windbag]

I don't buy into the slippery slope argument. Physician assistated suicide should come into play when a person no longer has the means to take their own life. Typically people fight illnesses like cancer, and by the time they get to the point where they are ready for death, they no longer have the ability to help themselves.

As to a physicians oath, the words "first do no harm" come to mind. There comes a time in the process of death where you learn that the most harmful thing you can do for someone is ask them to live.

You want doctors to kill people after a board determines they cannot kill themselves. Wouldn't it just be easier not to treat them in the first place? Think of all the money we would save.

I want doctors to be allowed to help people end their own lives. If I want to die, but am too weak or otherwise incapable of killing myself, I want my doctor to have the right to help me.

You should read the Hippocratic Oath, I posted it in my first response in this thread, they actually swear never to do that. That means you want them to ignore their oath.

Why do you want to impose your morality on others?

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Absolutely.

Our bodies are just that - our own. Only the owner should have control over one's own death. Needless to say, the same is true about reproduction.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Have you ever met any drug addicts? Most of them don't have the physical or mental capacity to tie their shoes, yet they have no problem scoring drugs. The problem here is you think the fact that making something illegal means it is hard to get. On top of that, drugs are hardly the only way for a person to die if they choose. Anyone with the mental capacity to choose to die is capable of killing themselves. Doctors should preserve life first and always. People have a right to refuse medical treatment.

If you really support people having choice you should tell the government to stop telling people what is legal, and illegal, for them to do to themselves. All drugs should be available without a doctor.

Like many people, I have absolutely no idea how I would go about getting lethal drugs. I could certainly get my hands on pot, but that isn't of any use. I could get sleeping pills and alcohol, but that could easily end up with me in WORSE condition. (Whatever was already wrong PLUS kidney and/or liver damage.) If I can't use my shotgun, I'll take 50,000mg of morphine, please.

I don't really give a fuck that you are too stupid to kill yourself.

Intelligence is not the issue that stops many from taking their own lives. Your own lack of same has stopped you from realizing that.

What if you have suffered a spinal cord injury and have no use of your hands? Look up the effects of a C-3 injury.

Hint: C-3 is where the phrenic nerve comes off the spinal cord and controls the diaphragm. Without it, you cannot breathe. If you have a C-3 injury, you are on a respirator and have no use of your own hands. Nor can you move any part of your body below the jaw.

How would you suggest that person commit suicide?

 

[RetiredGySgt]

I notice I was ignored. Again. Which of you will write the air tight law that prevents physicians from deciding on their own a patient is beyond help and then claiming they ask them to kill them?

Or the Physician that gets a monetary reward for the death of a patient?

You may not believe in the slippery slope but it is real and happens all the time.

 

[whitehall]

Do you feel terminally ill patients should have the right to ask doctors to help them die? Do we as a nation spend too much time trying to keep people alive that we have abandoned the notion of allowing people to have a dignified death?

Kind of a queasy way to ask an important question don't you think? Patients have a 1st Amendment right to ask doctors about anything. The lingering question is whether doctors have the authority to kill a patient who asks to be killed. Society says no. Do doctors have the authority to set up a situation that makes it convenient for a patient to commit suicide? That's where the issue gets muddy.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Like many people, I have absolutely no idea how I would go about getting lethal drugs. I could certainly get my hands on pot, but that isn't of any use. I could get sleeping pills and alcohol, but that could easily end up with me in WORSE condition. (Whatever was already wrong PLUS kidney and/or liver damage.) If I can't use my shotgun, I'll take 50,000mg of morphine, please.

I Edited

Intelligence is not the issue that stops many from taking their own lives. Your own lack of same has stopped you from realizing that.

What if you have suffered a spinal cord injury and have no use of your hands? Look up the effects of a C-3 injury.

Hint: C-3 is where the phrenic nerve comes off the spinal cord and controls the diaphragm. Without it, you cannot breathe. If you have a C-3 injury, you are on a respirator and have no use of your own hands. Nor can you move any part of your body below the jaw.

How would you suggest that person commit suicide?

If I was paralyzed I wouldn't want to die. If I did, I would find a way to do it myself.

 

[Saigon]

I notice I was ignored. Again. Which of you will write the air tight law that prevents physicians from deciding on their own a patient is beyond help and then claiming they ask them to kill them?
.

Because they require the consent of family.