Hacker News Reader

Comment by zimpenfish | Hacker News Reader

Presumably it's to stop people "helping" their elderly relatives who, perhaps, have a nice big house or millions of pounds.

View on HN

I've spent way too much time in assisted living homes the last 5 years. There aren't that many of the rich elderly people. More likely their families want to avoid paying thousands of dollars a month in care costs.

> More likely their families want to avoid paying thousands of dollars a month in care costs.

Is killing the elderly in order to save a lot of money much more moral than killing them in order to inherit a lot of money?

Normally debts don't get inherited without consent.

This, is more about shifting this debt to the kids or kicking them out of the facility. Further, they are not going to get 'better' the facility's are focused on keeping patents alive to extract as much money from the family as possible not because the elderly actually want to suffer as long as possible or necessarily benefit from the care.

PS: Funeral homes are also setup to prey on people suffering a loss. It's a sick business.

Is it moral that they're just humans that got sick, and they are burdened to pay the ridiculous cost of care that they don't want?

Based on how often that happens, as opposed to people in pain who want to die but aren't able to take their own medication, I'm willing to risk that happening. Being forced to stay alive in pain is every bit as bad as being forced to die.

Murder is still considered worse than torture by most people, so it's appropriate that our laws reflect that.

Given that the choice is between "torture leading to death" and "death", our laws are wrong.

If the first 2 requirements have been met, clarifying the intent of the person wanting to die, then surely the physical assistance at this point shouldn't be an issue in that situation?

Coercion isn't unknown. Although the two oral requests would probably help to avoid that a little bit.

so are those requests being done while limiting who can be on hand to witness? I would expect a member of the hospital, state representative, and their doctor, would be sufficient. Having a family member on hand might be detrimental unless they ask for them separately

Reply on news.ycombinator.com