Lately in the media, a quadriplegic man requested for the right to die. His request was aproved by a court in Western Australia, and he now has the right to tell his carers to starve him to death.

Mr Rossiter is severely paralysed after separate accidents in which he fell from a building and was hit by a car while riding his bicycle.

What are your thoughts on this matter? Should he be given the right to die?

Keep in mind:

This can or cannot be considered Euthanasia. On the contrary:

Quote

Assisted suicide

"Assisted suicide is a form of euthanasia where the patient actively takes the last step in their death. The term "assisted suicide" is contrasted with "active euthanasia" when the difference between providing the means and actively administering lethal medicine is considered important. For example, Swiss law on assisted suicide allows assisted suicide, while all forms of active euthanasia (like lethal injection) remain prohibited.

Some jurisdictions declare that a person dying as a result of physician assisted suicide does not commit suicide. This ensures that terminally ill people choosing assisted suicide options do not have reduced insurance claims compared to people dying in "natural" way. For example, the Oregon Death with Dignity Act defines that "... participation under the Act is not suicide, so should not affect insurance benefits by that definition."


Mr Rossiter stated:

"I am unable to blow my nose,".

"I am unable to wipe the tears from my eyes," said the former stockbroker and outdoor adventurer.

He made a public plea last week to be allowed to end his life which he described as a "living hell".

"I have no fear of death - just pain. I only fear pain," he said.

So, share your thoughts on not only his case, but Euthenasia aswell. Should it be legallised? Put yourself in Mr Rossiter's shoes. If it was my choice, I would do the same.

PS: Lol, I spelt the title wrong.

Hold your breath.

Euthanasia should never be legalized, that shit will get out of control. Have you read the Giver?

Assissted suicide should be legal because the patient has an active choice in the matter and you know it's what they want. Euthanasia shouldn't because of slippery slopes, loose definitions, dual motivations, and doctors ****ing up their diagnoses. Dr Shipman (worlds most successful serial killer in history. +1 point to Britain) could have defended what he did if euthanasia were legal.

Quote from CGIllusion

Hold your breath.

Euthanasia should never be legalized, that shit will get out of control. Have you read the Giver?

awful book

Yes, true Zed. If the patient wishes to be put out of his misery, and there is no hope of he/she recovering, then the patient should have a free choice.

How would anyone else feel if they couldnt move a muscle in their body. If they couldnt take a shit by themselves, couldnt get dressed ect. How miniscule and pointless would your life seem; Everyone laughing at you behind your back, being a burden on society and your carers. Why would people make someone go through this torture for the rest of their life?

Can you imagine 40 years of that?

Although i do agree, their should be strict rules regarding Euthenasia and assisted suicide. But surely Mr Rossiter's condition is suffice.

If it's trully his choice then yes I think he should be able to.

This kind of reminds me of a quote from The Five People You Meet In Heaven (great book I thought). I dont really remember it word for word, but it was kinda like "There is a reason to live and everyone has a purpose in life, but you have trully lost the reason when you can't wipe your own ass"

I dont know if thats exactly how it goes, but it had something to do with a reason to live and wiping asses :( )

It should be completely up to them.

That's pretty much what everyone's saying here.

Am i right?

the only reason why people still think that this shouldn't be allowed is because 'only god has the power to take away your life'. it should be allowed, only under cases such as this. allowing euthanasia, like cgi said, would be ridiculous.

God has no power in the world. I can take a life away with a chainsaw, does that make me god?

If I grabbed a knife right now and slit my throat it would be because I felt like it, not because 'god' made me.

cryptik: Thats what I mean, in a case like this, he should have the right, to die. As much right as someone has, for example, pull a gnarling dog off their leg. Both cause pain, both people should have a right to end that pain.

Quote from CGIllusion

Euthanasia should never be legalized, that shit will get out of control.

My head exploded from reading your signiture.

Quote from cryptik

the only reason why people still think that this shouldn't be allowed is because 'only god has the power to take away your life'. it should be allowed, only under cases such as this. allowing euthanasia, like cgi said, would be ridiculous.

No it isn't. There's also the fact that some people might not understand their condition fully, some conditions might make you temporarily insane and you might wish you were dead then but looking back on it later be glad you weren't, and of course the ol' slippery slope argument.

There's also the problem that some greedy kids will try and push death on their parents/relatives. This actually happened to this old guy I know. He said he wanted to live, but his son was like, "no, he's in too much pain to know what he's saying, we need to take him out of his misery." The son even tried to force the old man to sign a form saying he wanted to die, and said he had said so when they were in private.
Obviously the doctors didn't end the guy's life, but if the patient has no way way of communicating (for example because he is in a coma), it might be worse. The obvious solution is to only kill people who have formally signed a document saying that in case they turn into a vegetable, they want their life to be ended, but at the same time people can be forced or tricked to sign the document, so many people deem it easier to just have a strict no assisted suicide policy in order to avoid mistakes with a 100 % certainty.

I suppose the question there is to weigh up the benefits of saving however many lives that relates to, with the ammount of pain that's being suffered by people who want to die. Unfortunately we can't always know how much pain people are in and there won't be many reliable statistics for how many people would commit patricide given half the chance, so the answer is probably to flip a coin. God will make it land on the correct side.