The Right to Die or Die Trying

Self determination is the core of all human belief systems, free will to do what we will, to believe what we will, and, if needed, die. It is a part of who we are as people, we live, we die, but in between we... choose.

Laws against Euthanasia are just the last remnants of Old World thinking. Governments should not have the right to tell me what I can or can not do to my own body.

Perhaps there are those who would not mind being trapped in their ill-functioning bodies, where care needs to be given constantly. Or those who do not mind experiencing an undefinable amount of time and pain before their minds and bodies give way to the ravages of their disease.I feel that there should be circumstances where the right to die with dignity should be allowed.

The problem with not protecting that right, as I see it, is that those whose assistance were needed to help or who wanted to be there in a supportive fashion would now be at risk for criminal persecution.

DNR goes against our values. We need to help people until the end no matter what.

Its amazing how we protect animals but we dont care about the life of another person.

No one has the right to take away the life of another person, even if the person is in a coma let God make the decision.

The opponents of assisted suicide are often comprised of lobbyists from the gargantuan pharmaceutical industry or conservative religious organizations who have a very clear interest in maintaining sick people alive and suffering. Unfortunately, greed is more important to them than sympathy.

Very sad indeed... I think people who are suffering and have almost no hope should be able to end their life on their own terms.
My problem is how people may possibly abuse this "God-given" right if it were made legal with too little regulation. I mean, how does it work, can anyone just ask to kill themselves? Do you have to be terminally ill to be allowed to have assisted suicide? Where's the line drawn? Should there even be a line if some people think its a god-given right? And if it should be regulated, who can kill themselves and who can't?

Either we are free or we are not.

Here in the states, the freedoms of individual life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness all include within them deciding when to die.

It's the individual's life, the individual's liberty, and the individual's pursuit of happiness . . . and current anti-euthanasia laws violate all three of those premises.

Any law that protects you from yourself is unjust and violates civil liberties. Laws should only be made to protect people from other people.

Just as you have every Right to choose how you live your life, You should have every Right to choose how you end it.

Pareo Nullus

wow that is a very VERY naive thing to say GoSkateAllDay. These arent some little emo kids who think life sucks, these are people who are in incredible pain and are facing a certain and even more painful death. How dare you say that they arent trying when you are not in their situation and have not even the ability to grasp what they are going through.

Also you have obviously never watched a loved one slowly and painfully die. If my father had not succumb to his cancer so quickly I wouldve supported him if he chose to die with dignity rather than to wither away in prolonged unnecessary pain. When there is no hope left and you have accepted your imminent death you should be allowed to end your life with joy and love rather than be forced to suffer and endure humiliation.

I think its sad that you have such a narrow and naive view of the world and of pain. The pain these people endure is nothing like when you bailout on your board...that is not pain at all compared to what many people suffer with daily knowing fully that there is absolutely no cure and no way to stop their slow crawl to death.

We all die, so shouldn't we have the legal ability to end our own life, for good reasons.

Ohh yeah that's the spirit...I don't feel like trying, so I will just kill myself? That's just sad.

the only thing that we will ever really own in this life is our body. we should have the right to chose if we are very ill to end our life. but medicine is big money and medical community feed off the dying. they have no compassion for you. all they can see is dollars and keep you alive as long as possible to collect all they can from the insurance and leave your love ones with large bills to pay. ITS YOUR BODY IT SHOULD BE YOUR CHOICE.

I wasn't aware of Switzerland's position on assisted suicide before watching this. Really difficult to think of people suffering toward death. I think I agree with the twins.

Dying w/ dignity is a huge concern for me as one of my best friends(39 years old) has been on life support for over 4 weeks to date. each week his condition grows worse and it is very gruesome to see human anatomy distorted in such a manner. He has liver failure, kidney failure, jaundice, low blood pressure, etc, etc.. He starts bleeding from his nose, mouth and ears, and it will not stop, He has to have fluids that would normally be processed by the liver pumped out of his abdomen. Fluids also leek into other areas of his body, making him a complete distortion of anatomy.(it gets worse, but I will not continue with even more gruesome details) It is only by modern medicine that we are able to keep people alive past their due date. My friend has lived in so much pain the past 4 weeks and is connected to dialysis machine 24hours a day just to keep his body in a state that I believe no person should ever achieve. Does it make sense to keep a person on a slow march to death? In past times he would have never made it to the hospital alive, and would have passed to his next reality in a much painless manner. There is something called a "prime directive" that everyone should set up w/ their lawyer, it will specifically lay out the conditions of how you want to pass if you ever are unconscious where you can not make decisions.

Obviously people should have the right to die. The only arguments against it are religious in nature, and therefore not founded in reality and devoid of empathy for the human condition.

Who has the right to decide when you die if you don't? Who owns your body if you don't? What does freedom mean to someone who is suffering and can not choose to end it?