(November 14, 2013 at 11:17 pm)missluckie26 Wrote: In America it's religion that keeps assisted suicide from being available. Is it that way where you live or is it legal? Is it legal anywhere?
Personally, I wouldn't want tax money going to pay for No-reason suicides. But that's just me. I won't stop payin taxes if the law decided it was right.
Euthanasia's illegal in the UK however there's a lot of public support for legalisation. The majority of the opposition comes from religious groups who argue from the perspective of ancient, superstitious presuppositions regarding the nature of life & afterlife. The rational opposition comes from those who think that it's impossible to properly legislate against the potential abuses. They say 'keep the door shut' but it's already wide open: people who are capable & willing take their own lives for a variety of reasons. Now what we need to decide, as a society, is how to manage that through legislation; that is to say consider:
1. if people should be prosecuted for helping either in assisting the decision or the action (there's already legislation and precedent regarding 'life support' patients and 'do-not-resuscitate' orders).
2. to what extent does the social infrastructure have a role to play in helping individuals reach a decision whether to live or die.
3. the difference between euthanasia & suicide and how the previous 2 questions apply in those circumstances.
For me, the first, core component would have to be Informed Legal Consent (e.g. a Living Will) without which only doctors could take action. Secondly, I think that no-one should have the right to argue "...but they asked me to turn off the machines!" as that would be the main method of abuse, IMO. The legislation would have to be very strict in terms of who can set up a living will, how abuses might be identified & judged and how the rights of those choosing to die might be protected.
I have no doubt that a decent, robust set of laws could be created, if the relevant professions put their heads together and sorted it out. This would need to be combined with a sincere effort from government to invest in mechanisms which remove many of the causes of suicide/attempted suicide.
And there's data out there! We can look at countries which have legalised euthanasia and done it well: the Netherlands, Belgium & Luxembourg (known as 'the Benelux model'). This model provides balance which protects both the individual's rights to decide when they should die (given certain extraordinary circumstances) and their rights not to be arbitrarily killed or murdered. Additionally, by protecting the rights of those who need assistance, their societies have a sympathetic attitude to the situation, seeing it as an 'unfortunately necessary' process rather than developing a callous attitude to ending life and seeing it as a way to 'control populations' (e.g. 'bump 'em off when they're 65!!').
The trigger is that a person makes it known to medical authorities that they want to die but can't do it themselves (i.e. that they would have already killed themselves if they could and that they would have done so rationally). This triggers lengthy rounds of physical, psychological, social & legal tests to ascertain that the person is:
1. of sound mind and consenting
2. serious about ending their life
3. physically unable to kill themselves without help
Only once all the medical, social & legal tests are fulfilled does anyone start booking any procedures. Even once booked, the applicant can change their mind at any time and are also asked if death is what they want in the final moments before administration. The aim is not to dissuade the person from being euthanised but to ensure it's truly what they want and that the only thing stopping them is a physical inability to kill themselves.
IMO, the crux of the matter is this; some may find it offensive/distasteful for someone else to end their life but the level of offense can't be allowed to impinge on the rights of anyone to choose the manner of their own passing or continued survival. Consequently, the right thing to do is to provide support to help them.
Sum ergo sum
