Under what circumstances do you support euthanasia (voluntary, involuntary and non voluntary) and why?
I support it when the person has exhausted all plausible means of treatment (mental or terminal illness) or is in a state of being that I don’t think anyone should be in and/or a state that they have no plausible chance of exiting like comas, vegetative states and severe mental disability.
As I watched my mother dying recently, over about four weeks, I thought, you wouldn’t let a dog or a cat go on like this, if they were in this state.
I live in a country where medical assistance in dying is legal (Canada). There are conditions for eligibility that I think are well thought out, if incomplete. At the moment those conditions do not cover mental illness on its own, but the current horizon for those regulations to come into effect are March 2027 (it’s been postponed once or twice already). Offhand I’m not sure if advanced directives are currently legal but I know it was or is being discussed as part of the phased approach to the legislation.
If an individual believes it is the right choice for them, then it is the right choice. The ability to make the choice for others (a child, a dependant) is more complicated, but I believe the ethical position is that it should be possible under well regulated circumstances. I understand why the law is having difficulty framing that, though, and it’s not currently legal.
As far as I’m concerned the debate is settled though. It’s not about whether it should be legal anymore, because it is, it’s rather about how to manage eligibility and access.
I’m not clear what you mean by involuntary and non voluntary euthanasia. If you are only referring to people who are permanently unconscious and therefore can’t express an opinion, then I think that could be okay, under very strict safeguards (e.g. three different judges each choose a non-family guardian, and the decision for euthanasia has to be unanimous among the three, and also figure out a way to work in the family’s wishes). I can’t think of any other cases where involuntary euthanasia should be allowed, but if you can, it should always have strict safeguards.
Reducing the short-term suffering of someone who is clearly dying, where they aren’t able to ask for it themselves, might not work so well due to the need for controls to avoid abuse.
I don’t, because I foresee it eventually leading to involuntary euthanasia as the result of market forces and social pressure.
This.
My mother had to stop eating to accomplish it. I think she had also stopped being hungry. I hope so. But I really wish she’d had a choice; and I wish I knew that I’ll have one.
And there’s a difference between withdrawal of life support, and actual euthanasia; in the former, they stop drugs, breathing support etc, while in the latter, presumably it means an actual action on the part of the family / medical staff.
I’ve been a witness to the withdrawal of support, for two relatives. In both cases, the family member seemed to ultimately go fairly peacefully; with my mother, they kept her on oxygen and I think an IV, to improve comfort, as well as to deliver medication for the same purpose (morphine, to reduce “air hunger” which was causing her great distress).
With my father in law, I don’t think he even had that much, but he also didn’t seem to need it.
I strongly support assisted suicide, with appropriate safeguards. I have qualms about the patient needing to administer the medication - what if the person is paralyzed or otherwise can NOT self-administer.
I do support multiple levels of review before any such action is approved. I’m genuinely on the fence about assisted suicide for mental health reasons.
On a voluntary basis for anyone who wants it.
ETA: oh, I was thinking in terms of a “do it yourself” projects. As an official service, I’d want conclusive evidence not only that they want it but that there’s some reason they can’t handle the deed on their own.
Self-Euthanasia is de-facto legal already. Anyone can end their own life with opiates or benzos. Or via more violent means.
Therefore, it should be legal for adults with uncurable terminal diseases who rob them of their quality of life and/or dignity.
I don’t support it for non-terminal diseases. If there is a reasonable chance of a timely cure, we should take it.
I don’t think anyone should be forced into it.
It should be a personal choice.
I am ready to go now. I have lost all my family and there is really nothing to live for. But I keep on going. I would never do anything to myself as I have seen what can happen in those cases.
Suicide attempts that aren’t successful can become a nightmare.
Just waiting for a terminal illness to hit so I can schedule a trip to Switzerland. Or maybe Oregon or Vermont. Depends on their protocols.
Anyone at any time for any reason should be able to easily end their life without repercussions or pushback from either the government or the medical industry. Assuming the person is conscious enough to be able to express an opinion, nobody except them has any business having an opinion, much less insisting on their opinion being listened to or abided by.
You do realize that there are mentally ill people who are suicidal but who can be brought back to relative health with the prescribed and continuous use of medication, right? I could bring up different examples in different scenarios, but I think you get my point here. I’d be careful using a broad brush here.
That’s my stand. For decades I’ve kept a “just in case” supply of medication on hand. If I’m done, I’m done.
If someone no longer wants to be alive, who am I to disagree?
Many diseases aren’t terminal with noxious treatment, yet are terminal without treatment. You need to define terminal. Would you force chemotherapy on someone? Would you force someone to undergo aggressive, life saving surgery?
Do we have to proceed so far into dementia that we become incapable of making any such decision, just because the disease won’t actually kill us until long after we’re no longer ourselves and are possibly only capable of experiencing fear and confusion?
I support euthanasia any time at the request of an adult who has not been shown to be mentally incompetent for some reason other than wanting to die. No reason need be given. It’s a person’s right to die if they want to stop living. There is no rational argument to the contrary unless you believe people don’t have a right to control their own life.
Are you somehow oblivious to the fact that I’m a proudly escaped diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic activist militantly opposed to forced treatment and dispeller of myths about the efficacy of psychiatric medication?
Obviously I need to post more often around here…
The rational argument is that there are / will be fuzzy cases where determining whether the person set to die really, truly wants to stop living is hard to impossible. And unlike any other health decision, this one ends one, period.
Given your description of yourself, I think it could prove quite entertaining. LOL
“I want to die.” What is fuzzy about that statement?