Physician Assisted Suicide

No one asked my opinion and I may be butting in when I shouldn't, but I would like to say that I wouldn't want to be kept alive in the condition that Teri was in. I do believe that feeding tubes are artificial life support and would not want to be sustained in that way. Just one person's opinion.

You are welcome to any and every conversation on this forum, and noone here will say diferent. Of course there are exceptions to all rules, but this isn't one of them.



I agree with you, I believe that life is sacred, but so is death. There is a time for everything understanding when is what is dificult.

I don't know what happens after death. I have faith that i will go somewhere, up or down.
In that condition you cannot decide. It is possible to make a decision like that before it happens but not during or after.
If there is another life waiting for you what is a few more months, years in the cosmic sense? Not a drop in the bucket.
Again, in that condition i don't have to worry about such things. I can worry now but IMO it's pointless as it prabably will never happen.

No one needs to ask your opinion here, you welcome at any time to buttin, LOL. If you are compelled to comment on anothers post whether it involves you or not, by all means.

You're right, to medical opinion we might be beyond cure, but there are no limits to God's blessing. What is an extra week or a few months to someone who will later have an eternity.

I have no issue with Physician assisted suicide. It would not be a choice for me, I believe what ever is meant to be will be. I've watched loved ones die from terminal Cancer and there were times when they'd beg god to die. It's an awful thing to watch someone you love suffer untold hell.

It is very hard. I watched my Father suffer greatly before he died. He had emphysema and the doctors kept him alive with steroids and lots of other drugs way beyond the time he would have passed away naturally. It was very hard for my Father to accept his own mortality and he had a very strong will to hang on as long as he could. But at the point where everyone realized he was not going to live more than a few more weeks, or days, (the doctors weren't really sure when), why couldn't they have started giving him something to make his passing quicker and easier to help end the suffering? He basically drowned in his own fluids because his lungs kept filling with fluid and he couldn't breath. They were suctioning the fluids but at a certain point they had to stop because his throat became too damaged. That's a horrible way to go and they didn't give him anything to help ease his suffering until several hours before he passed away. I think at the point where they couldn't suction his lungs anymore they should have given him drugs to put him in a dreamlike state until he passed away. I don't think that's asking too much for a loved one. Oh well, maybe someday medical science will concentrate more on easing pain than prolonging life way beyond what God, I believe, intended.

Thankyou for sharing your story Doly. My father died of lung cancer, at one point I found a stash of pills under his mattress. When I confronted him he asked me to help him commit suicide. I said no, but I put the pills back where I found them. If he made the choice to end his pain and suffering I was okay with that but I couldn't do it for him. I to wish society focused more on "pain" than prolonging life. I believe when my tickets been punched, it's my time.

I can certainly sympathize with you. My Father asked me the same question. It was very hard to tell him no, but always expected to hear a gun shot in the middle of the night as he had a huge collection of guns and knew that that would be how he would take his life if he reached that point. But he managed to stay fairly mobile until his last stay in the hospital and, by then, he didn't have access to the guns. I always felt that somehow I let him down even though intellectually I knew I had done everything I could to help him. Watching a loved one pass away is the hardest thing a human will ever do.

Wow, thanks both of you. Makes you take things in prospective.

I had a wonderful neighbour when I lived in Military Housing that had a brain tumour. It was terminal, and he went through two operations to buy a little time (six weeks) and when the end came I asked him "Wally do you ever think why me lord" and he said no "Why not me". He was an amazing man who used his faith to help him die with dignity. I hope I have that kind of courage, I know I have the faith.

Doly, I also felt like I let my father down but I couldn't help him commit suicide because I was raised Catholic and even thou I'm a lapsed Catholic I can't shed the teachings of the church like a sweater.

I think that your point is good; however, I disagree with you as abortion is completely different from Physician Assisted Suicide. In abortion the baby doesn’t have a decision in anything. Whereas, in assisted suicide it’s the victim’s choice to be helped to die.
In my opinion, I strongly agree with Physician Assisted Suicide. I believe that it is right, if someone is in pain or no longer feels the need to live any longer then they should have the decision to be helped to have Assisted Suicide. Also, an adult is old enough to make the decision and choice for themselves they are more than capable to decide what they do in their life. On the other hand, some people may disagree as it is still technically murder and when the victim is in pain or discomfort they agree to Assisted Suicide just to get away from the pain. However, I don’t think that this is true. People who want help to have assisted suicide most probably talk to a lot of people about it to listen to their opinions and views of the issue, so that they are not on their own and do what is right for themselves and their family. But, I also believe that there should be an age limit for Assisted Suicide.

I think that assisted suicide is a person’s choice although I feel that it is a completely different matter to abortion I feel that if a women is pregnant and finds out that her child may have a disease if it is a serious disease I feel that it should be the women’s choice of weather she has an abortion or not I feel that abortion is quite unfair as the child has no say in the matter although this is different to any suicide as at least the person has a choice of whether to kill themselves or not if a person feels in pain and does not want to be part of this world anymore I feel it should be up to them what they do. I feel that the physician assisted suicide would have to be the only way to die as I feel if they were to die in a painless way then the person assisting the suicide wouldn’t feel so guilty. So i feel yes but i think this should only be carried out but only with pre written consent to the persons life who is in question. I also feel that this consent can be withdrawn at anytime.

I disagree with you.
I believe that nobody has the right to tell anybody whether they can die or not, whether you think that they only want to commit suicide because they’re in pain. I think that some people who know that they will die soon from illnesses or their illness will get worse then what right do we have to tell them that they have to live in discomfort.
I see why you believe that assisted suicide is wrong because it is still classed as a murder, and people are taking away others lives’, but people should have a choice. I believe that physician assisted suicide is a better a way for family and friends to get to term that somebody they love wants to and is going to die. There is going to be grief anyway that somebody dies but at least they get a chance to understand that this is what somebody they love wants to do. I think that criminal charges against people who help commit suicide should be dropped as it was not their choice to take that person life; it was the victim’s choice.
I do understand a lot of people disagree but we don’t have the right to tell people what to do with their life.

@Brent cv
I concur, I believe that with the oversight of a trained professional a person wishes assisted suicide can be granted that release with as little pain and affect on family as possible. By using methods that are painless will help them in their final monents, instead of being feeled with an inconsolable agony; this regulated way of assisted suicide will also help people to form their own wills so that their passing will also be less painful for their family as well. Afterall it is the person wishes to die who is the most improtanrt person in the equation, and whatever caters best to them should be met in their final moments.

Terminal illnesses at the end stage can be absolutely horrifying. Hospice can sometimes help with managing pain, nausea...but there are people who have been administered the highest legal dose of narcotics, and still die in agony! I want the right to choose.

If it's acceptable for our pets, why not our loved ones?

Everything alive eventually dies. If that end is imminent, but especially unpleasant, why not help someone die? Soldiers do it on the battlefield for their comrades, why not everyone else?

I am not for it. I believe that, as a human being, you owe it to yourself to live your life to the absolute fullest. There is a spirit to you, a sort of will to every person that isn't touched by peripheral pain or circumstances. It is your duty for yourself to live by that and strive towards the best life. I believe a person has a right to do anything they want except take the life of another or take their own life. You might think that, sense it's your body, you can do whatever you want to it... think what you want. The way I see it, everything else that you have a right to do is in the context of your life; I don't believe that the decision to not live is a right. That is my conviction. The only way I believe assisted death is acceptable is if a patient is immediately in the "dying process" and is already about to be pronounced dead, and the assisted death would help them die without pain. If it is from a spontaneous accident, I don't believe in "putting someone down"; I believe CPR and other last-line attempts to save a life should be attempted with maximum effort from the moment they are found to the moment they are pronounced dead. It is only acceptable if the patient has been dying from a chronic illness that causes pain, and death is immediately about to happen with absolutely no possibility of sustaining life. That doesn't mean a 98 year-old whom is going down the tubes and isn't doing well, it doesn't mean a patient with an aggressive cancer that has progressed terminally and has given up, and it doesn't mean an accident with extreme trauma where the physician can pull the plug. It means a person who is literally, with 100% absolute certainty, going to die today and would like to die peacefully.

Not only am I morally against assisted suicide, I am against a physician being allowed to assist suicide. A physician takes the hypocratic oath to unconditionally help sustain life and health of human beings. I don't believe the physician should be allowed the capacity to help end life; no matter the circumstances, I don't believe it is in the job description.
You see it with other issues; patients refuse blood transfusions because it conflicts with their religion, but doctors still have to perform a transfusion if it's necessary for treatment of life-threatening ailments. Right here, right now, they are a doctor and that is their immediate duty. I believe it should be the same with a patient whom wants to die; it is not up to the doctor to honor that.
Maybe my views are a bit radical, but I'd like you to reply and tell me how you look at it.

I'm betting you meant Hippocratic Oath.