The right to die ?

[Dee-licious]

maybe i shouldnt start with such a controversial topic, but owell...

if you have the right to life should you have the right to die say if you're terminally ill ?

[Albion 69]

Yes , it is absurd that animals can be put down to stop them suffering but Humans are kept alive at all costs no matter how agonising their condition gets.

There is the problem of knowing what some patients truly want , one day they say they want to end it all the next they want to carry on .Unscrupulous relatives are also a potential cause for worry as they may benefit from the person in pain dying.

But despite these problems it should be the right of every person to determine when they are ready to die.

[TheLegalEagle]

No, no one should have the right to die. The right to die is prevented by the right to life. Any state which ratifies human rights which allows the right to die is automatically breaking the right to life article.

The problems of a right to die would also be unavoidable, such as coma patients who have large insurance policies? How can that patient consent to death? How would consent to death by a family member look if they had a lot to gain?

[Albion 69]

No, no one should have the right to die. The right to die is prevented by the right to life. Any state which ratifies human rights which allows the right to die is automatically breaking the right to life article.

The problems of a right to die would also be unavoidable, such as coma patients who have large insurance policies? How can that patient consent to death? How would consent to death by a family member look if they had a lot to gain?

The Conservatives are proposing withdrawing from some Human Rights Treaties and setting up a British Bill of rights instead , a right to die with strict parameters would then perhaps be possible .

Recognising Living wills as legally binding may solve the problem you rightly highlight TLE , if the person has made clear they do not want to remain in deep coma beyond a set period of time then the wishes of the patient would remove any possible suspicion from the immediate family.

Living wills should be witnessed by two non family members and a clause stating the witnesses cannot benefit financially from the death of the patient under any circumstances.

[Winston]

I think that it should be possible to legally get a lethal injection (or whetever) even if there is nothing wrong with you. Why should anybody be forced to live if they don't see the point in it. And worst of all, why fail in killing yourself and then get sectioned or something?

This should apply to the use of narcotics also. Get as messed up on drugs as you like and suffer whatever consequences you bring upon yourself.

I honestly believe, interference in peoples right to figure their own problems is just a type of bullying, even if you think your doing them a favour.

[My Winter Storm]

if you have the right to life should you have the right to die say if you're terminally ill ?

I believe that everyone has the right to decide when and how they exist this world.
If someone is terminally ill, and in great pain, who are we to deny them the right to die with dignity, and without pain? Surely they deserve that much.

Two problems I have with the subject:

1. We put animals to sleep all the time - why not humans? If an animal is diagnosed with cancer, for instance, it's more 'humane' to put the animal to sleep, and therefore end it's suffering. Why is it somehow more 'humane' to keep a human being alive and in pain?
Can anyone explain why it is humane to relieve an animal of it's suffering, but inhumane if we do the same for humans?

2. A woman has the right to end the life of her fetus if she chooses. Now, I am very, very pro choice, but even I don't understand this one.
The woman has the right to choose an abortion, and therefore end the life of her fetus which resides inside her, yet that same woman is prevented by law from ending her own life if she became ill with a terminal illness.
Why is a woman permitted by law to end the life of her fetus, but is prevented by law from ending her own life?


Those are the biggest problems I have with the euthanasia debate. I can't understand why it is still illegal. Nor do I understand why complete strangers believe they have the right to tell me when and how I die.

[pauli007001]

Has any of you watched a person die?
A lung cancer patient drowning in his own phlegm?Panicked and struggling?
How about an AIDS patient crap himself to death(literally diahorrea until the body completely dehydrates)?
The agony of a death by pancreas cancer?
Bladder cancer patients who infected with a necrotising facitis having their penis and testicles rot away months before they die?
Would you stand and watch this suffering and do nothing to end it?
Are you really that callous?
Have you ever lost a loved one to sickness of this kind?
Obviously not,chances are you will and when you see your mother or father in Nappies crying out in pain and humiliation,bed sores and incontinence,remember your beliefs that it is good enough for them and that a little dignity is too good for them!!!