Euthenasia?, wrong or right? Options

[sikdragon]

Hastening the death of a friend or loved one to decrease the long-suffering. Is this a good thing to help the patient commit suicide?




I am pro-suffering.

[waccoon]

i think euthenasia isn't right when it's some kid trying to kill himself or something..just cause he/she wants to be dead doesn't mean it would be the right thing for them. however, if someone is lying in a hospital bed with a terminal illness or paralyzed from the neck down or something and they want to die rather than keep living like that, i believe they should have the choice.

Voluntary euthanasia has several guidelines..

Five Individually Necessary Conditions for Candidacy for Voluntary Euthanasia
Advocates of voluntary euthanasia contend that if a person is
(a) suffering from a terminal illness;

(b) unlikely to benefit from the discovery of a cure for that illness during what remains of her life expectancy;

© as a direct result of the illness, either suffering intolerable pain, or only has available a life that is unacceptably burdensome (because the illness has to be treated in ways which lead to her being unacceptably dependent on others or on technological means of life support);

(d) has an enduring, voluntary and competent wish to die (or has, prior to losing the competence to do so, expressed a wish to die in the event that conditions (a)-© are satisfied); and

(e) unable without assistance to commit suicide,
then there should be legal and medical provision to enable her to be allowed to die or assisted to die.

...  A final preliminary point is that the fourth condition requires that the choice to die not only be voluntary but that it be made in an enduring (not merely a one-off) way and be competent. The choice is one that will require discussion and time for reflection and so should not be settled in a moment. As in other decisions affecting matters of importance, normal adults are presumed to choose voluntarily unless the presence of defeating considerations can be established. The onus of establishing lack of voluntariness or lack of competence is on those who refuse to accept the person's choice. There is no need to deny that it can sometimes be met (e.g. by pointing to the person's being in a state of clinical depression). The claim is only that the onus falls on those who deny that a normal adult's choice is not competent.