Assisted Suicide.

[Vaewyn]

I have witnessed someone with throat cancer wasting away. They couldn't eat, barely slept and had to use a machine to breath. In the end he was almost begging for mercy.
I wasn't there at the time but I think that the doctors agreed to shut off the machines keeping him alive.
He was a shadow of what he was, and I was just sorry he had to suffer it for so long, especially as surviving was never really going to happen.
With assisted suicide, it is a complicated subject. If someone is terminally ill and the option is there, and they are asking for it to end it all comes down to how they will be remembered. Sick, feeble and malnurished. Or brave and ready?

 

[SultanP]

I've stated this before in thread a long time ago. Suicide and assisted suicide should not be illegal. I have no idea why it is illegal, and people who want their family and acquaintances to keep living miserable lives, just so they won't be sad that someone they were close to is dead, are incredibly selfish. If you don't want to live any more, that's your decision and you should have the right to make it. And if you can't do it yourself, but still want it done, it shouldn't be illegal for someone to help you.

 

[Frequen-Z]

As fair as I try to be, there is no valid argument for not letting someone who wants to die, die.

Seriously, I'm sat here trying to make a reasoned assessment of it, and all I can do is think "Why the fuck is this illegal?"

If I had a relative living in constant pain, and they asked me to end it for them, then I'll be damned if anyone is going to stop me putting them at peace.

People really need to ask themselves, whats more monstrous? Putting someone who wants to die out of their misery? Or forcing them to live in pain because helping them die is illegal?

 

[Tekkawarrior]

It should be available, but as a form of hospital service, which requires you to go though a mental and legal process that determines your liability.

 

[Oinodaemon]

There's is nothing wrong with helping someone end their suffering.

 

[klakkat]

Assisted suicide? Yeah, no. The operation would have to be witnessed by some type of officiator to be certain you didn't just murder the guy, and a lot of paperwork (death waivers, among them) would have to be involved... overall, just plain not worth it.

Now, for hospitals allowing someone to die who can't survive without life support ('pulling the plug'), that's fine, provided the patient OKs it (or the executor of their estate, if the patient is comatose). That's not really assisted suicide, since it isn't the person that kills you, it's the disease (injury, whatever).

As for people who are just plain depressed, assisting them in suicide should be considered murder; there's so many other options available for depression that no one should be encouraging them to kill themselves.