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RE: Right to Die
April 30, 2016 at 5:32 am
(April 30, 2016 at 4:40 am)SteelCurtain Wrote: As I understand it, the way that Washington state and Oregon have worded the legislation is that two doctors from separate institutions have to deem the patient terminal independently. Then they can apply to an independent board.
See, that's exactly one of the problems I have with this. This is almost the same wording.
Quote:the authority of certain physicians to be designated by name in such manner that persons who, according to human judgment, are incurable can, upon a most careful diagnosis of their condition of sickness, be accorded a mercy death.
That's Hitler's decree on euthanasia from 1939. I'm not saying, the consequences would or will be the same, but words alone aren't a safety net against abuse.
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RE: Right to Die
April 30, 2016 at 5:42 am
(This post was last modified: April 30, 2016 at 5:42 am by SteelCurtain.)
We also can't remove the social and cultural influences that followed, abaris.
I'm sure the Third Reich had plenty of laws that are very similar to laws on the books across the world today. Let's not throw out the baby with the bath water.
We need to protect from abuse, especially for vulnerable populations like elderly or poor people who could be convinced by any number of people not to be a financial burden on their families even though they don't want to die yet.
But just like the trans laws, the fact that there could be abuse doesn't mean it still isn't the right thing to do.
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RE: Right to Die
April 30, 2016 at 6:38 am
Only for the terminally ill, via hospice and palliative care. No direct action is taken to end life; the process of death is simply allowed to occur without extraordinary measures being taken (in theory, at least). I work directly with several hospice patients, and I'm a hospice volunteer with a provider outside of my job. I'm satisfied that this is the case, by and large.
Taking direct measures to end the life of someone who ISN'T actively dying is actually murder; Even if there's been an expression of a desire to die.
If someone feels the urge to kill themselves that strongly, then they're free kill themselves, but physicians shouldn't be involved in it.
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RE: Right to Die
April 30, 2016 at 7:36 am
I've had depression and wanted to die. Now I don't and I'm glad I didn't.
So if someone I love got depression, how could I let them go through with it?
Ask yourselves if you'd let someone you love kill themselves because they broke their leg or had a really bad headache.
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RE: Right to Die
April 30, 2016 at 7:38 am
I think people should be allowed to end themselves only after professional help has been sought and viable alternatives have been exhausted. It's easy to lose hope and give up on life but many times one can get back to a normal life with proper support and love. Many of you who have and are suffering from suicidal tendencies and depression will understand that how easy it is to give in to those urges to just get it over with, if the decision rested solely upon yourself without any loved one to support you through that phase. And it is for this reason I don't think people should be allowed to decidedly end their lives by themselves without professional guidance.
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RE: Right to Die
April 30, 2016 at 7:42 am
The examples of when there might have to be a waiting period, to me, are numerous.
What if a mother of three wants to kill herself after losing her youngest child to a brutal cancer?
What if an athlete wants to kill himself after losing his leg in a car accident? Should he be required to wait two years?
Humans have the tendency to make rash, emotional decisions in the face of extreme adversity/trauma. Should society facilitate them making such an extreme/irreversible decision so close to the event?
"There remain four irreducible objections to religious faith: that it wholly misrepresents the origins of man and the cosmos, that because of this original error it manages to combine the maximum servility with the maximum of solipsism, that it is both the result and the cause of dangerous sexual repression, and that it is ultimately grounded on wish-thinking." ~Christopher Hitchens, god is not Great
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RE: Right to Die
April 30, 2016 at 7:53 am
I'm definetely against the example given in the OP. I'm suffering from clinical depression and anxiety for about a decade now. I don't want to die, I simply don't want the life I'm living at present. And there are treatments for anxiety. If they work for everyone is another question, but another professional might still have the right answer.
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RE: Right to Die
April 30, 2016 at 8:00 am
I don't necessarily agree with it for mental illness, because it isn't terminal. Lots of mental health issues are somewhat treatable now and some people even make a full recovery. It's something you can come back from.
If people want to die badly enough though, they're going to do it. Making it illegal hasn't exactly stopped it. It's unfortunate.
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RE: Right to Die
April 30, 2016 at 8:45 am
I support right to die. If people are going to fight for a person's right to their own body when it comes to pregnancy, then why not this?
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RE: Right to Die
April 30, 2016 at 9:40 am
(April 30, 2016 at 8:45 am)Chad32 Wrote: If people are going to fight for a person's right to their own body when it comes to pregnancy, then why not this?
Because it can and will be abused if any given law doesn't cover all the loopholes. Better yet, written into any particular constitution, covering each and every possible cause of failure or abuse. It should only´be offered to the terminally ill, not the ones suffering a temporary crisis. And it should prevent the government to take any role in it or any given company or individual to make a profit from it.
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