Should a person who is terminally ill be allowed to choose to die?
What conditions should be required for a person to choose it? How long should you have to live before you are allowed to choose it?
Or, why shouldn't you be allowed to? It's your life so you should be allowed to choose when you go.
Currently legal in Washington and Oregon under the following four stipulations. Death with Dignity Act 1. Must be 18+ 2. Must live in the state 3. Must have less than 6 months to live 4. Capable of making informed decisions
Open for discussion. Welcome to the first of hopefully many Debate Threads.
Of course I say it's a person's right to choose how and when, if possible, to end an extremely undesirable life. The health care industry obviously opposes it due to the months of expensive care they will be robbed of. It's dignity to me to go out with a light on upstairs, like a captain going down with his ship.
Another twist to this is how the life insurance industry would view this. Since suicide is cause for a policy to become void certainly they would deny paying on any cases like these. Shame really.
Its done every day with Hospice..Just not widely talked about. The Oregon law seems to cover the legal end, But morality is still in question. Every case is different. Some ppl all ready have things written into their health clause such as a "do not resuscitate" "do not incubate" so if they were to get very ill, then the Dr. can not give life support. Clauses like this are a good way of assuring that a person will not linger in a coma sick as hell for years on life support. Also, A person designated as a health care proxy to ensure the final treatments are carried out as they were asked if the sick person was unable to make decisions anymore.
Should a person who is terminally ill be allowed to choose to die? "
But a DNR (do not recesitate) order does not allow somebody or even yourself to assist in your quick timely death....People can linger on forever, with food and water, which is still provided in a DNR
and a proxy is just that, someone to make decisions for ya, but they can't assist in yer timely death..
This is definitely a tricky subject, and all cases where this sort of thing might even be considered would have to be examined very specifically.
I can't say I've been on the edge of death in my life due to any injury/disease. However, I do have a number of close friends/family who have been, and I would say GENERALLY speaking I would be against giving up the fight. Pain and suffering are a part of life, and there is no life not worth living.
There have been tons of situations where someone was suffering severely, was believed to have only months left, and ends up making a rebound and living for years. During said years, how many of them do you think thought that it was worth it to have a little more time with their family, see their kids grow up a bit more, or even just hear the birds chirp a few more mornings. Life is beautiful.
Johnboi said the age requirement was 18+. I cannot imagine ANY situation where someone between 18 and 30 or so doesn't have at least a chance to make a rebound and live some more months/years in a more manageable phase of their illness. Crazier things have happened.
One of our employees was diagnosed with cancer about 18 months ago at the age of 17. It was bad. Her first several months of treatment were awful, every treatment they tried was failing and causing TERRIBLE side effects. It seemed like every week I was hearing a new, and more horrific update about how her newest treatment was doing more harm than good. At some points the outlook was VERY grim, things had gotten far worse since the day she was diagnosed. Then one day something just clicked. They found the perfect treatment, and she is cancer free today.
With all that said, I reiterate, I have not been there personally to relate to people in these situations. Obviously not every situation is like the one I discussed. She was young, and it was treatable. But again, I think rarely, if ever, is there zero hope, and more importantly, zero left to fight for.
Personally, I am for it. Mostly coming from past experiences, sadly to say. My grandpa got diagnosed with prostate cancer and went through some horrific pain. He was on Hospice and was on the "do not resuscitate" list. I remember sitting by his bed side just a week or two before he passed and we were talking and he told me and I will always remember these words and how serious he was. He told me "I'd rather you just take me out back and shoot me. I would do it myself if I could get out of bed." In addition to it, I really hate to play this card, but a lot of people who are terminally ill think about this. The financial side of this. The cost of medical fees and Hospice and all of that add up very quickly. It's sad to say but some people want to die because they are scared of putting their family in debt with all of these surgeries and treatment options which cost a ton but aren't going to help in the long run. Another point I want to bring up is the criteria I posted. I think 18 is too young. I hate this analogy with a passion and it pizzzzes me off that I'm about to use it, but if I can choose to die at 18, why can't I have a beer? If I can go serve in the Army, why can't I have a beer? I think the age needs to be at least 21 to choose but maybe even as high as 25. I am almost 21 and I can honestly say, I don't know enough about life to make a decision like that if I were terminally ill. I feel 25 years is enough time to make a decision like that.
Just a few points I think are important you have to consider.
Been saying it for years Yanks. Old enough to die for your country but can't order a drink? They want America's best to fight for the rest of us. Ironically our youth is the strongest yet less capable mentally to handle the task. Then they come home with.....who they are inside.
If ya can vote for the President of the United States,then ya should be capable of making other great responsible impacting decisions..
when I was 18, I went to college, I was an anti war activist and a radical SDS member, I served in Vietnam, I voted for McGovern, I was allowed alcohol...and I sure as hell could make a decision about my own life and health, if need be..