Euthanasia/Merci-Killing

[Deleted]

So I'm sort of kicking the boat, here, but I thought it would be and interesting debate, seeing I debated it in English befor school got out...

I'm mostly against it.

Active Euthanasia:

-Humans don't have the intelligence to know what their life is worth

-If you're sick long enough, chances are you've already died or you've found what's close to a cure

-It's selfish in the way that you're taking yourself away from the community

-Religously (in most religions): You shouldn't die artificially, God gives and takes life

-Non-religiously: You shouldn't die artificially, if you call it "Dying with Dignity." Dying with dignity would be dying naturally
--Like above, people won't remember you how you were dying, you'll be remembered how you lived and what you did

-Suicide is the dumbest thing in temporary illness, seeing you're throwing so much away

-It could be abused if legalized

-If legalized, it could change our community dramatically and cause a chain-reaction of laws causing us to go down the slippery slope

Unactive Euthanasia:

-All I have to say is nobody can make a choice but the person themself


Come kick the boat over on me, now. ;D

[Deleted]

Personally I wouldn't consider suicide as euthanasia. Suicide is just a desperate way out when a person thinks there life sucks.

To me euthanasia is when a very sick person, who is constantly in pain in allowed to be 'unplugged' so that they do not have to suffer anymore.

Euthanasia to me is a complicated issue and I choose to have no side. I can understand how a person would want to have it. But who is to say when it's right and when its not?

A person could murder someone and say, "No it was euthanasia. I was helping them." Then what?

[KittyKadaveral]

I had a cousin that was in a car accident many years ago and she slowly slipped into being a literal vegatable. She couldn't breathe on her own, had to be feed through a tube and then the brain waves started going. To me, that's just cruel and selfish to keep someone on a machine. Not only are you draining the living members that know him or her financially, but also mentally. I know what it did to her mother. I was glad when she did die on her own. I don't think anyone, including a court has the right to force someone in that kind of state to stay alive because what is it gaining? I suppose the only reasons some things stay the way they are is because of the money the government or agencies can make on it and that's where the human life has a monitary value. The problem with most of the human race is they forgot what true humanity is really worth and about. There's a point in suffering where enough is enough. I know I wouldn't want to live if I was connected to a machine for years without breathing on my own or anything else.

[Torey]

I'm for euthanasia. When animals are suffering and can't be cured we do the best thing for them and put them to sleep. We'd be considered cruel if we kept them alive to suffer. Therefore, aren't we being really cruel by keeping terminally ill humans alive? People might beg to be killed but the person who is faced with looking after that person is stuck for what to do because even though they might want to kill the ill person, they can't because it is against the law. I really think that it should be legalised but I think that a professional doctor or someone that specialises in mercy killings should do it.

[Oily]

I think it would have to be strictly controlled, but I think it should be allowed. Some people live in horrendous pain for many months - shouldn't we allow them an option out? I'm sure many would suicide if they were still physically/mentally able to. We should all have the right to choose whether we should live or die.

I know that because euthansia isn't legal, some people try to starve themselves to death instead or ask a partner to smother them (the partner will risk jail and probably a lot of guilt.) I think euthansia would be better.

Firstly, if humans don't know what their life is worth, who does? I think the person who is living it knows its value best.

People can be sick for many years without cure or death.

I'm sure the community wouldn't begrudge a person if they wanted to be rid of pain.

Religiously - God also gave us choice and free will.
Non religiously - Dying without dignity is dying slowly, day by day, forced to have even basic things done by other people, watching yourself fall apart with no hope of a cure.
Dying with dignity would be euthansia.

Suicide throws away a healthy life, one that with some help could be even better. Euthansia throws away a life that isn't worth living - even by the person themself. I'm sure they'd rather be happy and healthy - but they're not.

Abuse is a problem for everything - it would just have to be strictly controlled.

Slippery slope arguments don't really work. Abortion hasn't caused a mass rise in infanticide. Similarly, legalisation of tobacco hasn't forced people onto heroin.

[Deleted]

I don't think euthanasia should be allowed. When God wants you in his Everlasting Kingdom, He'll take you. God had a plan for everyone, and I don't think any one has a right to interfer with His plans. When God is ready to take you, He will.

[Buddy]

Oily said:

I think it would have to be strictly controlled, but I think it should be allowed. Some people live in horrendous pain for many months - shouldn't we allow them an option out? I'm sure many would suicide if they were still physically/mentally able to. We should all have the right to choose whether we should live or die.

I know that because euthansia isn't legal, some people try to starve themselves to death instead or ask a partner to smother them (the partner will risk jail and probably a lot of guilt.) I think euthansia would be better.

Firstly, if humans don't know what their life is worth, who does? I think the person who is living it knows its value best.

People can be sick for many years without cure or death.

I'm sure the community wouldn't begrudge a person if they wanted to be rid of pain.

Religiously - God also gave us choice and free will.
Non religiously - Dying without dignity is dying slowly, day by day, forced to have even basic things done by other people, watching yourself fall apart with no hope of a cure.
Dying with dignity would be euthansia.

Suicide throws away a healthy life, one that with some help could be even better. Euthansia throws away a life that isn't worth living - even by the person themself. I'm sure they'd rather be happy and healthy - but they're not.

Abuse is a problem for everything - it would just have to be strictly controlled.

Slippery slope arguments don't really work. Abortion hasn't caused a mass rise in infanticide. Similarly, legalisation of tobacco hasn't forced people onto heroin.

I would have to pretty much agree with Oily. Euthanasia can be a good thing - but it would have to be strictly controlled. Psychiatric exams, physical exams, stuff like that.

It's kind of ironic, in a way. We've spent all these years developing ways to keep people alive longer. And now that we have, we've begun to realize - is living longer, but with a great deal of pain, really worth it?

I also find another bit of irony in the whole thing. The same people that are against euthanasia seem to be against stem cell research. So, we're not allowed to let these people die because it's against God's plan - but then, we're also not allowed to do research to find cures for these diseases because that would also be against God's plan and will.

I suppose we're just supposed to let these people die without helping them or making their live's better...

[Deleted]

Buddy said:

I suppose we're just supposed to let these people die without helping them or making their live's better...

Buddy, being in Heaven IS better than being on Earth. There isn't any pain or suffering in Heaven, and you're eternally happy. That is what we're sending people onto. We are making their lives better by fufilling their plans.

Alright, that's as much as you're getting out of me. I don't thing beliefs are something that should be debated.

[Buddy]

Eri said:

Buddy, being in Heaven IS better than being on Earth. There isn't any pain or suffering in Heaven, and you're eternally happy. That is what we're sending people onto. We are making their lives better by fufilling their plans.

I'm not trying to debate you're beliefs, I just don't quite get it... If Heaven is better than Earth, then why are we working hard to keep these people here on Earth in pain than sending them to Heaven where there is no pain?

Not saying you're wrong! I just genuinly don't understand!

[stoneman3x]

From a legal standpoint, I don't see how euthansia is different from abortion, but abortion is legal. If a woman can decide to kill her unborn child "because it is her own body", then why can't people elect to kill themselves because it is their own body? Personally, I don't believe in abortion except in extreme cases, just as I don't believe in euthansia except in extreme cases. Most states allow a "living will" in which an individual states that if they are rendered incapacitated that they should not be kept alive by artificial means. Most cases of euthansia would not be necessary if more people wrote living wills. But there's that 20-20 hindsight thing...

[stoneman3x]

Buddy said:

I'm not trying to debate you're beliefs, I just don't quite get it... If Heaven is better than Earth, then why are we working hard to keep these people here on Earth in pain than sending them to Heaven where there is no pain?

Not saying you're wrong! I just genuinly don't understand!

I think the moral issue here is that killing a person is wrong-- and against the ten commandments, not to mention the plain simple laws of most countries, no matter what the prevalent beliefs are. There is no disclaimer that says, "Thou shalt not kill-- unless someone is in extreme pain". So the issue then becomes a difficult moral conflict with many people. No one wants to see people suffer, but no one wants to play God either. People who are against euthansia aren't heartless, or blind to what prolonging a life means. But sometimes the hardest things in life to stand by in the face of adversity are your personal values, morals and beliefs. I understand both sides of this issue because I am in the fuzzy ground between both sides.

[Buddy]

And of course, if we're talking about a situation in which a person is in a vegetative state, who gets to make that decision?

The situation I speak more dirrectly about are the cases where the person has a debilitative disease, but is still awake and conciescious of their surroundings and able to make their own decisions. Say, is someone has Parkinsons - there is no cure and a person will only get worse as time goes on.

I can see an obvious moral problem with the first one - ending someone's life because you think it's "what they want" is one thing. But someone voluntarily choosing to end their own life is, to me, something entirely diffference.

I'm still not sure if I can quite see the moral delima in situation number 2, though.

[Deleted]

Buddy said:

I'm not trying to debate you're beliefs, I just don't quite get it... If Heaven is better than Earth, then why are we working hard to keep these people here on Earth in pain than sending them to Heaven where there is no pain?

Not saying you're wrong! I just genuinly don't understand!

I'm not mad or anything! I'm just saying I'd rather not go way into my beliefs. ;D

[Retired Blub]

In a way, i'm for it. I mean, what if someone isn't religious and they're going through horrendous pain and just want to die? They have to be forced to live for some religion that they don't believe in and have to suffer through agonizing pain. It's just not right, in my opinion. However, this is a WHAT IF so it's only merely an example of why it would be right to have it.

I am a Catholic but I sometimes wonder if religion is basically taking over our lives...

(Ex. Same sex marriages, euthansia, etc...)

[Deleted]

Eri said:

I don't think euthanasia should be allowed. When God wants you in his Everlasting Kingdom, He'll take you. God had a plan for everyone, and I don't think any one has a right to interfer with His plans. When God is ready to take you, He will.

Well, since nothing in the U.S. can legally be "in the name of God," that can not be a factor in the debate.

People would have a choice to die or not. If you're incapacitated and have the choice of euthanasia, reject it if it's against your beliefs. Others shouldn't be forced to live for something they don't believe in.