Should Asissted Suicide be legalized?

We just finished up model congress at my school and this was one of the bills being proposed. I myself was 100% against it, but there were some good points brought up as to how it would benefit people if passed. However, I still feel pretty strongly about keeping it illegal. Your thoughts- why we should or shouldn't pass legalization of assisted suicide

In certain circumstances, I belive it should be allowed. I have a chronic illness that causes extreme pain. Physical and mental. There maybe a time. That I can no longer handle this. I do not think I would have a loved one do it for me that would put to much of a burden on them. As long as I can hold on I will. The will to live is very strong even when you are ill. There are still thingsyou wish to see and hold on to. Then now a days they have such good pain killers they can manage pain pretty well. I have been ill now for 9yrs. It is not easy. The mental pain is worse than the phyisacl. I do not leave my home because of this and the way society looks at people that are diffrent. I understand the feeling of the pain being so bad that you no longer want to exsist. I have been at that door many times. Then I always find something to hold on for. When I first got ill the doctors told my family I would not last a year. It is 9yrs now. Here I am. Pain yes everyday! Working through it to watch my 3 beautiful grand children grow! Everyone will have a diffrent aspect of this thread. I am one who is living it.

This is a hard question to answer. I am a nurse and every time I go to work, I see first hand disease and death. Many diseases are so horrible. I feel that since this is a "free country" someone should have a choice to end their suffering, if they are of sound mind and that it should be done by someone who knows what they are doing i.e. a physician so it can be quick and done right. Having someone else do it for you would cause them to carry the burdon both emotionally as well as legally. Although we do have wonderful, strong pain killers these days sometimes, they just don't work or the dose that does work is so big it just knocks you out anyways. Just imagine what a horrible life it would be to live in pain everyday, not being able to take care of yourself. I think in some cases, it is the quality of life and not the quantity that should be the focus.

Hellon and Illumanti,
You have brought me to tears. I have met so many wonderful people on this poetry site. I feel the other way you have inspired me to write. Allowed me to leave my home with your beautiful poems that paint such wonderful pictures in my mind. That for a little while I can leave this body and travel in my mind to the places you have written about. So thank you!

Isn't "assisted" suicide another name for murder? If someone becomes so ill they want to end it, why involve a family member to carry the burden or medical professionals to answer to the law, i.e. Dr Kevorkian?

everyone shoudl move to oregon where its legal. its beautiful there this time of year.

I think it should be legalized.. to at least give people the choice.
I mean, isn't everyone always saying this a free world?
If someone is of sound mind and want to let go. Who are we to stand in their way?
*Gem*

That is why debbylyn I would not ask for yours or anyone in our family's help if I chose this. I would never put that burden on the people that I love. My plans are to stick it out till it happens on it's own.

Hellon,
Thank you so much. You will truely be missed. You are also in my prayers.

Darwin Kemp really said all that I believe needs to be said on this issue. I don't think suicide should be legalized for angst-ridden teens or healthy middle-aged people having a midlife crisis but for in the illness cases I do believe sometimes its for the best...and for people who become vegetables because there's no point in them living when they cannot really think, feel, or communicate.

I've already told my daughter that if I'm a vegetable or incurably ill that no organization or individual is to have the right to prevent me from joining my friends and family on the other side. But if I'm just ticked off with someone or something and I feel like knocking it all on the head... Just ignore me.

I've also contemplated the assisted suicide as "murder" but leaving someone to suffer is torture if nothing can ease their pain. This is a touchy subject. I wouldn't be able to do it if I was a physician because I would have on my conscience the fact that I did kill someone whether or not it did alleviate their suffering. I also think it is wrong for any person to kill another person, even when a criminal receives the death penalty. I always wondered if it bothered the person who gave the lethal injection or flipped the switch for the electric chair. I guess I can see either point of view on this subject, it is a hard one to have a clear cut answer for. I still think people should be given the choice if their are people willing to assist the suicide of someone with a terminal illness who has no quality of life and is suffering. I just wouldn't do it or help anyone else do it.

Rachel,
You have seen me suffer. I would never put this on yours or anyother of my family members. You and I have talked about if things get to bad for me. You know what I would do and I know you understand. Yet Like I said I will hold on to life as long as I can. I think if a person is still of sound mind it should be a personal choice. I do know the feelings of not being able to handle pain anymore. Then I see my family and I don't have the heart to leave them.

"if a person is still of sound mind it should be a personal choice"

I agree wholeheartedly with you here, and for a time of my life I couldn't see myself agreeing with the concept of keeping someone alive when all hope is lost, but then I watched as cancer ravaged my Grandmother, reducing her to a skeletal shell, unable to move, unable to recover. I watched as my Grandfather sat by her bedside each night, holding her hand, praying for her. She was conscious of us all, but only barely. I couldn't believe that she was being kept alive when it was so clear to me that she would enjoy life on the Other Side so much more.

Prayer... My dad asked Grandpa why he prayed, if he knew God wouldn't spare her life. And Grandpa replied "I'm not praying for Him to spare her. I'm praying for Him to give us one more day."

Looking back, it seems a pretty grim thing to pray for.

Cindy,

I know you'd never ask any of us to do that, I wasn't referring to you. There are people who would ask a family member or someone close to them though. It is interesting to hear your opinion on the subject though as your illness causes you such pain. Thanks for sharing.

See I agree that in EXTREME circumstances it can be very well justified, but I think it would become too easy if it were legal. As Cindy said, a person can be at that door many times but then find something worth enduring that kind of pain for. If assisted suicide were legal I think that people would give up too easily, and perhaps make rash decisions that could have been changed later.

I also think that it could lead to terrible things. Imagine someone getting paid to help someone die, or perhaps people arguing that their depression is so unbearable that someone should help them end their life (that could be another topic but I am 100% against that)

Yes Michelle, you are right as well. That is why I say there is no clear cut answer to this. There are so many variables. You have brought up some good points.

I agree with Still Waters each case is very diffrent. I just feel though to put this burden on someones heart that loves you, would be to much for them to bare. I belive that if it is the person's wish to have this done it would be best suited for a Doc to help if the person for some reason can't do it on their own. That is why having a DNR is so important. When someone is so ill and suffering, to keep bringing them back once their heart has stopped is very cruel. Just my thought.

yea, why not? Nothing is stopping you from killing yourself though, so why not do it yourself.

Although, i suggest you think wise before you do it.

It should be legal, but unheard of.

First of all if you want to know why I am not killing myself. The answer is the condition that I have is doing that for me! I have to much I want to still be here for. I am not 16yrs old like you. This thread is not about me killing myself. It is about assisted suicide. I have no plans for leaving this world till my last breath. Not by my hand or anyothers except God's.

I knew He'd get dragged into this sooner or later...

haha well I don't know where Cindy's apparent suicide was brought up, but I think she was just saying that there have been times when she felt like life was getting too hard to handle with her illness but then she finds something worth enduring the pain for,which backs up my point about people making rash decisions or changing their minds later on, only if they were able to go through with that choice they wouldn't have the opportunity to change it.

Michelle.
Thank you at least somebody understands what I saying.

Do I think Assisted Suicide should be legalized...

Well like many opinions that have been said here. I would say that it should to give that person a choice, on whether they should be fit to die on their own accord.

Why meddle in another person's choice...If they decided that there is no other help for them, and they feel that death is their only salvation...Then it is "THEIR" own choice.

What rights are we entitled to if we can't even be free to decide to live or die.