Do You Support Physician Assisted Suicide; Woman Moves To Portland For Physician Assisted Suicide (leader, doctor)

[2e1m5a]

It seems the overwhelming majority support this-is it because of the prevalance of cancer and other terminal diseases today?

It's hard to think that this issue was so controversial not long ago. I learned about physician assisted suicide in our high-school religion class (Catholic) and the teacher was very supportive of it.

[uggabugga]

Originally Posted by 2e1m5a

It seems the overwhelming majority support this-is it because of the prevalance of cancer and other terminal diseases today?

It's hard to think that this issue was so controversial not long ago. I learned about physician assisted suicide in our high-school religion class (Catholic) and the teacher was very supportive of it.

it really is. not sure what changed but it's nowhere near as controversial a topic as it once was, apparently.

[burdell]

Originally Posted by uggabugga

it really is. not sure what changed but it's nowhere near as controversial a topic as it once was, apparently.

In some ways I think it may be because people are realizing that just because we continually improve medications/treatments that may extend life, applying them without question to lives that have lost all quality isn't necessarily the right thing to do.

[uggabugga]

Originally Posted by burdell

In some ways I think it may be because people are realizing that just because we continually improve medications/treatments that may extend life, applying them without question to lives that have lost all quality isn't necessarily the right thing to do.

maybe. but why didn't they realize that 20 years ago?

[burdell]

Originally Posted by uggabugga

maybe. but why didn't they realize that 20 years ago?

At least partly I would think it's 20 years ago many illnesses led to much shorter periods of sinking towards the inevitable. I believe as people now watch loved ones facing longer periods of a life having little if any quality they're more and more starting to question the wisdom of prolonging lives that those leading them no longer wish to prolong.

[TigerLily24]

Originally Posted by gretsky99

A woman by the name of Britain found out that she had terminal brain cancer. She made a decision to move to Portland Oregon where assisted suicide is legal. I total disagree a Doctor's hippocratic oath is to do no harm. BTW.. Do you know who invented the whole concept of physician assisted suicide the Nazis. Why because for the NAZIS those who were disabled or burden were dispensable. By legalizing physician suicide we're entering a slippery slope.


Cancer patient Brittany Maynard, 29, has scheduled her death for Nov. 1 - The Washington Post

So you believe that a person should be kept alive indefinitely?

I support assisted suicide. And in this specific case, I believe that this young woman is well within her rights to make this decision for herself.

[uggabugga]

Originally Posted by burdell

At least partly I would think it's 20 years ago many illnesses led to much shorter periods of sinking towards the inevitable. I believe as people now watch loved ones facing longer periods of a life having little if any quality they're more and more starting to question the wisdom of prolonging lives that those leading them no longer wish to prolong.

that could be. modern medicine has been going to ever-increasing lengths to postpone the inevitable, whether the patient wants that or not.

[twinArmageddons]

Originally Posted by 2e1m5a

It seems the overwhelming majority support this-is it because of the prevalance of cancer and other terminal diseases today?

It's hard to think that this issue was so controversial not long ago. I learned about physician assisted suicide in our high-school religion class (Catholic) and the teacher was very supportive of it.

I think it's because nowadays we're thinking more about the quality of one's life and their right to control what happens to their body. Naturally, assisted suicide would become more acceptable in that sort of society. As it should be, because there's absolutely no reason to have it be taboo.

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by burdell

In some ways I think it may be because people are realizing that just because we continually improve medications/treatments that may extend life, applying them without question to lives that have lost all quality isn't necessarily the right thing to do.

Probably. And I would even go so far as to say that applying them without question to lives that have become unbearable is almost never the right thing to do.

Those of us who have seen the long, drawn-out process play out--"life, no matter what"--would have to be for some other way, even assisted suicide.

[jacqueg]

Originally Posted by uggabugga

makes you wonder, if jack kevorkian was out doing his thing today, would there be more popular support than there was in the mid-90s?
and maybe he would not have spent 8 years in prison..

Actually, kevorkian had a client - if that's the right word - in oregon shortly before the first time that assisted suicide was passed (yes, we voted on it twice). It was pointed out at the time that a kevorkian-assisted suicide would still have been illegal under oregon's law.

For those that don't know - in oregon, a doctor is allowed to prescribe a lethal drug dose to a patient if the patient has been diagnosed with a disease that will probably be fatal within 6 months, the patient has expressed a desire for the prescription to two different doctors, the patient is not clinically depressed, and the patient is physically able to take the dose without assistance. The state tracks all such prescriptions and their outcomes. It turns out that many patients who have fatal prescriptions do not use them, but find immense comfort in having them.