Suicide is not illegal anymore. If people in their right mind want to commit suicide they may do so. The suicide's assets are no longer forfeit and their remains are treated with the same respect as anyone else's.

Suicide and attempted suicide are also, very commonly, selfish acts. We're all selfish to a greater or lesser degree so the selfish motivations of the suicide are understandable to most of us and, usually, forgivable by most of us, but that doesn't make them any less selfish.

The extreme selfishness of suicide by voluntary euthanasia is demonstrated by the desire to have another person, a doctor, be involved. Why does it have to be a doctor?

Because the person seeking euthanasia wants not just death but a particular kind of death. They don't want to kill themselves. And they don't want someone to kill them who is skilled in killing otherwise they would be agitating for serial murderers (who might enjoy the process) or abattoir workers (who probably would not) to do the job.

What they want is a fairy tale; a beautiful, appropriately lit moment in which, surrounded by weeping family members, a caring doctor will end their travails, non-messily, perhaps while their favourite piece of music is playing, blah, blah, blah. Who cares if the doctor is psychologically damaged by having participated and later struggles with his or her "regret and emotional distress at having performed euthanasia"*? They'll be dead and gone and it won't be their problem.

Or maybe that won't happen. Maybe they'll get one of those doctors who couldn't care less or, worse, one who actively gets off on watching someone die. Maybe, just before the lights go out, they will see that the person killing them is getting as much of a buzz from the process as would any Ivan Milat or Harold Shipman.

*The Practice of Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide in the United States: Adherence to Proposed Safeguards and Effects on Physicians
http://www.nightingalealliance.org/cgi-bin/home.pl?article=154

jrm - if voluntary euthanasia was legalised, the need for a doctor to assist would not be necessary to end the life of many of those you so calvinistically describe as "selfish".

Though lacking in medical knowledge, I see no reason why controlled, regulated access to lethal drugs could be not be made available to those who meet a certain stringent criteria to commit suicide. The maximum involvement of others would be to legally access those drugs on behalf of those who are incapacitated. The administering could be carried out by the patient or loved ones where they too would have prior counselling to ensure they meet certain criteria.

Of course, there would be many other factors of safety to consider for legislation, however, voluntary euthanasia or suicide is all to do with choice which the majority of Australians do not have at present - thanks to the few who believe that they and their super-natural deities are exclusively authorised to dictate to the masses!

Maybe you enjoyed saying all that,jrm. Seems like perhaps you get off on pushing your unwanted opinions down other peoples' throats, insulting and demeaning people who are at the end of their tether due to their virtually unbearable physical/mental condition, and forcing them to endure unnecessary pain and suffering against their express wishes and against the wishes of those who know and love them.

People like you make some of our serial killers seem almost humane by comparison.