It's a mercy we allow our pets.
No reason we shouldn't allow it to ourselves.
No reason we shouldn't allow it to ourselves.
The risk with allowing humans to do this is that it’s possible for someone not of sound mind to come to this conclusion.
It seems like lots of people think you can just go to your doctor and be prescribed a cocktail of death because you feel down today. That's not what assisted death programs are like, at all.
There's waiting periods, evaluations by independent doctors and psychiatrists, interviews, etc. to determine your capacity and understanding of the decision. Someone who is not of sound mind is not getting approval for assisted death.
Anyone sufficiently determined enough is going to find a way to die, regardless of what laws or programs are there. These programs don't change that, and they aren't meant to.
For many of us, this is a classic catch-22 as requesting such approval demonstrates the lack of a sound mind.
This is wild to me.
I watched my father, who had a life expectancy measured in months, live in unbearable pain 24 hours a day. And you believe that him wishing to end that nightmare demonstrates a lack of sound mind? The sound decision, in your opinion, is to suffer in pain, knowing that there is no treatment nor cure coming, just pain for some number of months until death's release?
I find it particularly cruel that you (seemingly?) think that he should have had to continue to suffer. And, by extension, myself and the rest of my family, should have had to continue to watch him suffer.
(Before we get too far into it, I will say upfront, there's not much in way of argument that will sway me from this opinion. I am certainly open to hearing your opinion, though.)
Go into a nursing home in the U.S. sometime and walk the halls. Tell me if you think the majority of those people are waking up with something to look forward to? Some of them are sitting in their own shit for hours because the nurses are too short staffed. I’d rather be dead than sit in my own shit for hours while being in chronic pain, and abandoned in a nursing home.
There are other reasons to choose death too of course. But i digress. I’m not in the mood to make an exhaustive list.
If you’re old and in okay-ish health, and have _something_ to look forward to (hobby, seeing grandkids, reading, etc), then it’s a different story.
/s
We are already risking someone not of sound mind owning a gun or operating heavy machinery and ludicrous speeds in public places.
Do we really think the benefit doesn't outweigh the risk in case of medically assisted death?
Assisted dying is a horrifying, but probably overall good idea; however, we need to reform our medical bureaucracies before it's something that they can ethically provide.
Surely you don’t think an 18 year old claiming to be endlessly suffering due to failing a math test sound enough to terminate his life?