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The Forum > Article Comments > Dying to talk about euthanasia > Comments

Dying to talk about euthanasia : Comments

By The Redhead, published 20/9/2010

Let’s show some courage as a community. Let's have some sensible, adult discussion on euthanasia.

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Caroline93 you raise a good point.

I must admit I don't quite know how I feel about assisted suicide for those who just don't want to go on anymore for whatever reason, whether it be mental illness or other circumstances. Pain is not the only measure - I can understand that but am a bit raw from a recent experience.

My first reaction is we should do everything we can as family and community to improve the life of those who are afflicted with these sometimes unbearable conditions. But that must sound naive and idealistic to someone who has gone through your experience when the reality is sometimes quite different. I have worked in a field where I came into contact with people suffering with schizophrenia and even the best case manager can make little difference.

There is a natural instinct for humans to value and treasure life but we are all responsible for the course our life takes and perhaps this has to include a choice to die without interference from meddling governments and others.

But I have to admit I do feel a bit uneasy about the concept - (probably conditioning) and will have to think more on the subject. Ultimately it seems obvious we should have the right to die as free individuals .
Posted by pelican, Monday, 20 September 2010 1:10:56 PM
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Voluntary euthanasia is opposed by politicians who vote along the lines of their own religious convictions. As such they don't vote along the lines of the majority of the people they are supposed to represent.
This is an abrogation of democracy and thus my personal rights.
Posted by snake, Monday, 20 September 2010 2:23:37 PM
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I agree Snake. It shouldn't be up to the Government to say no to even a debate on Euthanasia if so many people in our community believe in voluntary euthanasia.

Apart from the usual religious and moral arguments against voluntary euthanasia, there would be multiple legal issues to deal with should they agree to such a law being passed.

Some questions that would need to asked first, before it becomes law,
would include:

What ailments would be covered by the law- would there have to be considerable unrelieved pain as a prerequisite?

Would conditions such as quadriplegia, multiple sclerosis, motor neurone disease, or other muscle/nerve wasting diseases be included?
Or would it just be terminal diseases causing pain, like cancer?

At what stage of any palliative illness will it be deemed the time for euthanasia?

Would there be an age limit? If it only includes adults, then are we saying that children's pain is more bearable?

What about the mentally ill or intellectually disabled dying people?
Will they be expected to bear unbearable pain because they haven't the ability to make the call for euthanasia themselves?

What medical practitioners would be expected to administer the final injections?
What if your own medical practitioner was not a supporter of euthanasia?
Would you have a set number of Doctors willing to do the job?

Yes there are literally hundreds of questions to be answered and laws to be drawn up before we can ever have effective voluntary euthanasia legislation.

Maybe that is the main reason our politicians are reluctant to even talk about this issue?
Maybe it is all just too hard
Posted by suzeonline, Monday, 20 September 2010 3:00:32 PM
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Dear snake,

Where did you get the idea that Australian parliamentarians represent the views of their constituents? They are obligated to vote the way the party room (generally this is what the party leader wants decides.) or face severe consequences. In the rare conscience votes they can vote their conscience. This often is an expression of their religious convictions. On very rare occasions they may actually represent the views of their constituents or consider the good of Australia, but I think many parliamentarians never do either.
Posted by david f, Monday, 20 September 2010 3:05:46 PM
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Personally I think I have no problem with 'voluntary' euthanasia if it is voluntary. The problem I see is the same thing happening as the extremely dishonest promoters of abortion where it was all about the poor girl who was carrying a child after being raped. Now millions of murders happen yearly and the industry is thriving. I suspect strongly that most of the 'promoters' of this 'mercy' industry really have little knowledge of mercy. It shows in the callous way they deal with the unborn.

This quote is telling

'Once the principle of mercy killing is accepted in law, it cannot be confined to those who give their consent. Voluntary and involuntary euthanasia go hand in hand. According to the Dutch government’s Remmelink Report, for example, of the thousands of people who have their lives deliberately shortened or terminated by medical staff in Holland each year, over half are non-voluntary. “In the practice of euthanasia in the Netherlands,” says Dr John Flemming, Director of the Southern Cross Bioethics Institute in Adelaide, “more are killed without their knowledge and consent than with their knowledge and consent.”2'

http://lifeministries.org.au/pamphlets.php?content_id=63
Posted by runner, Monday, 20 September 2010 3:42:10 PM
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Thanks, Runner (you won't see that very often !) - how does that work in the Netherlands ? How do they get away with it ?

Voluntary euthanasia is identical to suicide, right ? An act of pure personal autonomy ? Nobody else involved, not with the actual act of administration ? e.g., a person exclusively operating their own morphine pump ?

Murder is the taking of another person's life, when that person does not want to die, i.e. can be assumed not to want to die (presumably, we will never have to go around with 'I DO NOT WANT TO DIE' tattooed on our foreheads ?)

So, murder as an act of absolute denial of personal autonomy ?

The word 'euthanasia' has been used for everything from suicide to mass murder, from an act of personal autonomy to its opposite.

So in what sense is it being used in this discussion ? How do you stop it sliding from one to the other, once another person becomes involved ?
Posted by Loudmouth, Monday, 20 September 2010 4:31:21 PM
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