Euthanasia

[Spartacus2002]

recently they have been debating non-voluntary euthanasia in holland... i find the whole concept of euthanasia disgusting, especially when it is forced upon unwilling people like people in comas, brain dead, mentally ill, terminally ill infants etc. This entire concept is so appalling. I think that holland should be repremanded for allowing such things to happen. People say that euthanasia should be allowed if people want it and are in a sane state of mind and opt for it. But if someone is suicidal and think life is not worth living then how can they be sane? while there is breath there is hope right? have not people that are terminally ill done great things in the past? who are we to say who's lives are worth living and not worth living? how long will it be before they are euthanizing people that are developementally delayed or have downes syndrome... i think it is obvious looking at holland they are heading down a slippery slope that entire concept of euthanasia is disgusting and a holdover from the Nazi Era. I think hitler would have loved it.

[rainyday]

medical directive (http://www.tc.umn.edu/%7Eparkx032/JP-LWsh.html)

We have the technology to prolong life indefinitely
I believe this practice to be very WRONG

Everyone should have a medical directive or "living will" that states their wishes and who they choose to carry out these wishes

4. I should be considered a full person
as long as I have the following capacities:
consciousness, memory, language, & autonomy.
When these are gone---and are not likely to return---
then my life as a person is over.
I should not be kept 'alive' as a former person for more than one month
I believe I have the right to die.
I affirm the validity of voluntary death, assisted voluntary death, & merciful death.

When our pets are old we do the "humane" thing and "put them to sleep"
I would want the same done to me and/or my loved ones

[KrazyRabidSheep]

But if someone is suicidal and think life is not worth living then how can they be sane?

I'm not really qualified to detirmine my own sanity, but as far as I can tell I'm fine.

Honestly if I were terminaly ill right now, I wouldn't want to live. I've lived through seeing my grandfather, both grandmothers, and now mother die rather slowly and whilst losing their mental or physical abilities or both.

After seeing this, and imagining the embaressment of needing a family member to do the easiest of tasks like wiping your ass or telling you that that stranger in the corner isn't a stranger but your sister/your dog/a lamp, I dread the thought of getting old and helpless. The age matters little to me, and needing some help is no problem, but when health has declined to the point that a nursing home needs to care for you, watching 24/7, that's stretching it a little.

When and if I get so bad, and I still have my mind together enough, I'd like some way to end it painlessly. If somebody really wants euthanasia, they will find other ways of killing themselves. Most messy, painful, or slow.

You say that people haven't the right to determine when other people die, and I can see that.

I don't think that you have the right to say when somebody dosen't have the right to die, however. (just try to stop them, anyway. . .or are you going to ban everything from razor blades to shoestrings? Hell, shouldn't smoking or driving a car be banned? Perhaps we can put padding on every sharp corner)

[bolshevik butcher]

Voluntary Euthanasia for the terminally, I agree with. However any other form is wrong.

[Vallegrande]

If you think Euthenasia is bad, then what about executions by lethal injection, against the will of another human being? Surely if Euthenasia is bad, then that should be even worse.