What are your opinions about euthanasia?

It's a common matter nowadays, and I'd like to hear your opinions.

Just some ideas to start the conversation:
Actually, every living being has the right to live - it's our most basic right, and no one has the power to steal it, which means euthanasia is totally against this.
However - in the matter of active euthanasia, the person asks for the procedure. And our another basic right is the decision over our lives. So, who we are to stop a person, if he thinks that life is only a burden and he doesn't want to live anymore...
And what about the doctor who injects the deadly medicine? He comits murder, and even if the victim asks for it, what would happen with the conscience of the doctor?

I'm really looking forward you ideas, and I really want to know that as a Jedi, which should we respect more: the right to live, or the right to decide.

I believe that in the case of terminal illness, extreme old age or another irreversible loss of quality of life, someone should have the right to assisted dying in the manner and at a time of their own choosing. If your life is at a point where it won't get better and where you're going to die anyway, it seems much more humane to me to allow people the choice of ending things rather than forcing them to hang on... valuing life above quality of life. Given the potential for intense suffering (both mental and physical), plus the cost and resources palliative care requires, I feel if people would prefer to die sooner they should be supported in doing so. To me that's the most compassionate action.

One of the big issues is consent. If you can establish the person requesting euthanasia is of sound mind (not straightforward) you can get their consent without too much drama, but in the case of degenerative illnesses where people are losing their ability to think or communicate you have to agree some kind of "limit" to what they'll endure before it's agreed doctors are to euthanise. It should never be the case that there's any doubt that the person genuinely and sincerely wishes to die, and that they fully understand the consequences of that decision (at least so far as is possible!) before it's taken.

There has to be some clause in there for a person to change their mind, but you get into all kinds of metaphysical problems around personal identity in these sorts of situations. Forgive the terminology but just to make the point: the "sane" mind wishes to die if they become "insane" enough and agree to waive the changing-mind clause, but when that point comes the "insane" mind wishes to live; the "sane" mind won't return, so why should the that earlier decision get priority? Would any doctor euthanise someone loudly protesting "I want to live"?

In the case that something is or may be recoverable, such as severe depression for example, I'm more ambivalent. If there's a chance someone could get better then all effort should be made to ensure that's the first option, but there's no guarantee things actually would get better and so the quality of life argument comes up again - if you have no quality of life and would prefer to die, then I feel you should be "allowed" to. It's just not as straightforward as a terminal diagnosis.

I'm for it.

It is murder? Or compassion?

I guess it depends on which side of the lethal injection youre on.

The arguments for and against are both compelling:

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Euthanasiaandassistedsuicide/Pages/Arguments.aspx

But I personally believe that death is just another stage in our journey so ultimately each person has the right to decide when they will take that step.

I used to have a very specific belief on this, that euthanasia is completely ethical. While I think a person ending their life to be rid of the physical pain is okay, we're treading on the land of suicide.

I have personal experience in this. I tried committing suicide twice in my life. And I am SO glad I survived. Yes, I've suffered a great deal of physical and emotion pain in the past decade, but all of that has made me stronger. In other words, there was a time that I didn't think I would have any relief, and then my "destiny" changed.

You have to ask yourself though, why do we experience pain? There has to be a reason, right? Everything happens for a reason, after all. Nothing is a mistake or coincidence. What I'm getting at is that, depending on your beliefs, suicide/euthanasia is not an escape. You might be reincarnated to experience that pain again, so that you learn from it, as you were destined to do. Or in your despair and death, you end up continuing the experience in the afterlife.

The thing is no one knows what lies "on the other side". Tread carefully.

This discussion hits me close to home. I have my mother who I am the care giver for who has Alzheimer's disease, and dementia.

She has good days and bad days. Some days she remembers who I am and other days she is living in the past. She suffers from severe depression at times and has attempted suicide multiple times. All of her friends, brothers, sisters and husbands are all dead. She has her children and grandchildren, but most of the time does not know who they are.
My siblings do not visit her anymore because it is too painful and hard on them that their mom does not know who they are and does not remember that they visit.

Before her stages got this bad, I have been her caregiver since 2006, she told us that she wanted to die with dignity, her way, and not be where she is today.

I tell my mother all the time, she has not finished what she needs to do here and that is why she is still here. She asks what else is there for her to do. I usually state that she is here to teach me how to cope and handle the lessons I am learning taking care of her and that usually helps.

That is my background about this subject. So of course I have mixed opinions with this.

I strongly believe that each of us has a right to die in a dignified, honorable way, if at all possible. Ritual suicide and sacrifice is a part of certain cultures, Seppuku is an honor redeeming ritual that is acceptable in certain cultures. Modern “civilized” people tend to make people linger on mererly because we are able to sustain them not because they individual wants to.

If our pet dog is suffering, we put them to sleep. So why is it “okay” for us to do this to our pets, who many feel are very much a part of our families, but not okay to do it to our elders? Is there really much of a difference?

I do believe there is a difference between the right to live and the right to suffer. I personally would not have any guilt in ending a life that is terminally suffering and asking for release. My conscience would be clear, however the situation must warrant it. Someone who is suffering from depression may need a different kind of assistance.

I think that the business of the medical world loves terminally ill patients that they can suck every last cent out of a body before they pass is horrific. Here in the United States, they will suck all the savings and money a parent wants to leave for their kids, drain them of all assets, including homes and objects until their value is less than $2k before the “system” will pick up the tab. It is disgusting!

A lot of what I am saying has been said by others but I think in the end, if it is situational it can be a good thing. But it is a razor’s edge that we walk if we allow/condone this.

If you have the correct conviction to end your own life you don't need to be so cruel as to ask someone else to do it unless extreme circumstances prevent you from acting on your own.

Euthanizing animals is no different to me than killing them any other way accept your likely not able to eat the meat afterward. Why its done and by whom, and whether it is correct or not is circumstantial down to each individual case. Blanket statements of right or wrong devalue the individuals involved. Death is as sacred as life.

it would have to be a very very unique situation but I don't think I could do it. Having wintnesed three hospice end of life events there was no suffering I could tell of, just a slow wind down over time and then a quiet transition.

If there was a living will I could pull the plug. In my mothers situation I and my sister did have permission. My sister never would have been able to do it and I never thought there was suffering to end so she moved on at her own pace. If I did pull the plug it would have haunted me for the rest of my life.

rugadd wrote: If you have the correct conviction to end your own life you don't need to be so cruel as to ask someone else to do it unless extreme circumstances prevent you from acting on your own.

In the UK it's being discussed that people who choose euthanasia would themselves administer the fatal drug dose.