Yep. My mother is one such person. I mentioned a court case where a quadriplegic with limited hearing who was losing his eyesight, fed through a tube inserted into his stomach, had no family and was living in a nursing home went to court for, essentially, the right to die. You'd think under such extreme circumstances an ideologue with even a smidgen of genuine compassion would reconsider. Nope, she was adamant he had to continue living for as long as God sees fit, his own self-determination and suffering be damned. Suicide is wrong, even the Bible says so.
That said, I’m surprised that the notion that euthanasia should not be allowed for any “sane” adult who wants it is considered radical here. Seriously guys?
Pretty much, this.
I mean, you encounter perfectly healthy young people who want to kill themselves after a relationship ends or they lose a job or fail at something. The prospect of such people being able to simply walk into a hospital or some other facility and be legally killed is quite scary. Sure, they may have just killed themselves anyway but perhaps they would have tried to pull through if state assisted suicide wasn’t such an easily available option? I’m of the opinion that euthanasia should only be available to people who are in physical pain, incapacitated with little/no chance of recovery and severely diminished quality of life, and who are unable to commit suicide on their own, like the quadriplegic I mentioned above. If he was physically able to, he'd have offed himself. I don’t see why a healthy 40-year-old who has decided he wants to die needs "assistance".
Yes this generally sums up my position also. and I don't consider this to be a 'radical' approach as has been claimed above. If we are going to write this into law, we should take a step by step approach and dip a toe, maybe take a review in 5 years or so and see if we can expand it, rather than just roll it out without considering where vague and ill-defined wording could lead to interpretation and abuse of the procedure.
Someone else also said they would be against giving it if they were coerced or mentally ill, and I am 100% with them on that, but it seems that the only way to weed out coercion, which is not easy to prove, or people who are mentally ill, is to make that judgement by medical prognosis alone, and a serious consideration on ethical and medical grounds. This seems to be the best way for now, to ensure that people are provided this terminal procedure that cannot be reversed, for the right and medically necessary reasons.
I bet you that there are many people alive today, who at one point in their lives, due to disability or tragedy, would have asked for this, and would have been given it, who later managed to fight through the negative feelings and went on to live otherwise happy, fulfilled lives, and who are glad they weren't handed the 'red pill' at first request.
Topic: Assisted dying/Euthanasia in the UK