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Assisted Suicide - Sinful or the humane choice?

Discussion in 'Mature Discussion' started by Mike, Jun 7, 2012.

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  1. Jun 23, 2012 #21
    Mike

    Mike Member

    Currently yes, and I realize it's a slippery slope fallacy to "assume" my next point is true...but past evidence seems to support it, as I will now explain:

    Looking at other 'hot button' topics, such as abortion or going even further back, contraception (which I mention because there are people, even physicians, who currently object to both) physicians at one time or another, were not obligated to do any such thing. As time passes, and these things become more socially acceptable (in Canada, abortions can be done even in late term, up to and including labour), there is more and more pressure to find a doctor who is not 'a dinosaur' and is willing to do all these things and more. Contraception for instance, is pretty much a necessity for any physician to distribute, whether they "believe in it" or not. Any doctor who doesn't...well...isn't very successful.

    The pattern seems to be, allow something, then encourage something, then demand it. For now, yes, physicians have the right to refuse any such procedure. However, can I say with confidence that it will remain this way? In x years, as more and more people start having assisted suicides due to its legalization, more people will want to have them...and then more will expect to have them. Eventually, anyone who refuses will be in essence, 'blacklisted' and labelled with some sort of negative identity. I can't say it with complete confidence, but it's a pattern we've seen before and I ascribe to the theory that people don't change very much (ie. "History repeats").

    EDIT: Also, the problem (and virtue I suppose) of the Hippocratic Oath, is that it is largely up to interpretation. To call upon the examples I've mentioned, abortion can be seen as either an infringement on human rights (for the child) or an infringement on women's rights. Which one is 'doing harm?' It is ultimately up to the physician to decide. Euthanasia/Assisted Suicide is an identical situation.
     
    Last edited: Jun 23, 2012
  2. Jun 26, 2012 #22
    EtherealSummoner

    EtherealSummoner Lamentations 3:22-26

    You say that you do not want to end lives, yet it seems that it is alright to just go by what someone else which is not the patient itself to make the decision to end their life. Hm... very contradicting and complex. Then why become a doctor then? They tell them they have this many whatever to live and if the family members say to take them off support, that is killing them, assist a woman in ending her life in assisted suicide, that is wrong, end their life when it is not an assisted suicide, it is wrong and if I say just to let the patient to make their own choice whether to live or die in by no means to suicide, then I would be contradicting myself if I say what I believe. I guess that those who is on life support should not say for them to take them off of life support for that is sinful.
     
  3. Jun 29, 2012 #23
    Mike

    Mike Member

    Pardon? I can't seem to decipher this...
     
  4. Jun 29, 2012 #24
    EtherealSummoner

    EtherealSummoner Lamentations 3:22-26

    All of this is what I am talking about in reference to you talking about the woman wanting to suicide. Right now, I am confuse. If the person who is struggling against death wants to live but the doctor gives a family member instead to have the final decision, then the patient has no say so and that looks like killing someone off to me. If I say that they have the right to live, then I am merely contradicting myself because "obviously", I am making the decision, even if I am agreeing with the patient. If this woman wanted to die and they help, that is suicide. If the woman wanted to die and the doctor won't help, then they may jump on the doctor's case. If she wanted assisted suicide and her family members were the ones who have the decision, then what? I mean, she may have been nearing her death and she did not want to trouble her family anymore (I still don't like her decision anyway for suicide) but everything now just feels contradicting. WHOSE FREAKIN' DECISION IS IT AND WHY IS IT SO FREAKIN IMPORTANT?!

    In other words, all of us might as well stop trying to support abortion, taking people off of life support and all that and should just die the normal (or bad) way. Oh wait. Killing people is normal so I don't think people wouldn't mind supporting abortion and assisted suicide.
     
  5. Jun 29, 2012 #25
    Destiny

    Destiny Guest

    I think it comes down to the situation.

    My great grandfather told us when he had his surgery if anything were to occur that he would come out of surgery and not be able to live a happy, proper life, he wanted to be taken off life support.

    This did occur. When he was out he had a stroke. He wasn't completely stable, if he was left on life support he would have. However the stroke affected his brain, so he wouldn't be able to function normally, in fact he could have very well been turned into a mentally retardation.

    Going off of what he requested of us before surgery, we took him off life support and five minutes later he passed.


    Now I thought it was hard, but it took some time for me to think about it. How would I like living in bed, unable to speak, feed myself, go the bathroom by myself, wouldn't be able to ever get out of bed ever. It would suck and I would be very, very unhappy. So instead of living any unhappy parts of my life, instead of not having people have bad memories and unhappy memories of me brain dead, I'd rather have been taken off life support as well.


    So with that being said it's fine. If there's absolutely nothing medically available to save a person's life so they can live normally, I think it would have been fine. I'm sure god would agree, living a happy life is better than a sad dying life. So I don't think it's sinful neither.
     
  6. Jun 29, 2012 #26
    Kitty

    Kitty I Survived The BG Massacre Staff Member Administrator

    Lol.

    I don't think anyone is talking about letting family members off each other whenever they feel like it. In these cases, either the patients themselves are able to consent to the assisted suicide, or they are brain damaged or in a coma or in some other way incapable of ever giving consent and the person that patient gave medical power of attorney to makes the call, going by what they believe would be the patients' wish. Can I say there would never be a time when the patient is unable to consent either way and the one with power of attorney is forced to make a decision without really knowing what the patient would want and gets it wrong? No, though I don't know how we'd ever really know that, because the patient would either be dead or comatose or whatever. But anyhow, I don't think that chance for something to go wrong is enough to say that no one should be able to have an assisted suicide.

    Let's not be bringing abortion into the equation, please. Make a separate topic if you want to go on about that.
     
  7. Jun 29, 2012 #27
    EtherealSummoner

    EtherealSummoner Lamentations 3:22-26

    Mike had brought up abortion in comparison to show how rights are really being ignored in decisions so there's wasn't nothing wrong but I'll make another topic on it.
     
  8. Jun 29, 2012 #28
    Mike

    Mike Member

    Sorry guys, had a huge response typed out, but when I hit post it took me to the main website page...and now I'm out of time. :\ I'll share my thoughts in the next few days.
     
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