Thanks Leslie, I'm glad you are keeping this debate going. Smart people, I suspect, take care of this themselves when the time comes. Stats indicate about 15% of our oldies end up in nursing homes and it's these that tend to get shoved into palliative care as well as the ones transferred from general hospitals into palliative units. Most people apparently die after a very short illness of two or three weeks duration. The lucky just drop dead from an internal malfunction. Politicians are, unfortunately, not the best people to make decisions about death. They are callous fellows that vote amongst each other to send us to war with all that that means in terms of suffering. They lack insight. they are riddled with anxiety (always wanting tougher laws) and inadequate when it comes to ruling for the benefit of mankind (more border controls, detention camps for refuges). Euthanasia makes inadequate pollies more anxious. Euthansia is about loving and caring and being responsible for one's own death. How alien are these concepts to those that rule us? Euthansia happens all the time regardless of what the mule of law says. That many people scream blue murder agaist it is them telling us they are frightened of death and have been unable come to terms with their own mortality. The more we discuss this the better it may be for those that are terrified, that they may come at last to surrender to the inevitable.

Steve
"I challenge any anti euthanasia proponent to answer the question I posed in my previous post."

I already answered your question. Essentially your relativistic morality is self-refuting nonsense. When you post an argument that has some rational merit, I am sure people will deal with it.

Grey, why is voluntary euthanasia wrong? Why should it not be legal? That is what those of us who think it should be legal want to hear. Is there any argument that is rational to support not legalising voluntary euthanasia? This is hopefully not a bun fight about my moral values are more important than yours and therefore my moral values should be imposed on you, irrespective of which side of the fence you are on. As I said before, so far, those who are against legalising euthanasia avoid answering the above question and instead do what you do. Throw in some 'relativitic moralising' and unsubstantiated warnings about the Netherlands. The slippery slope is another beauty. The semantics and circular arguments that the anti-euthanasia lobby employ do not come near answering: "why is voluntary euthanasia wrong". Why should we NOT respect the wishes of the terminally ill?

Grey: "Essentially your relativistic morality is self-refuting nonsense. When you post an argument that has some rational merit, I am sure people will deal with it. "

Nice to see such compassion emanating from an opponent of euthanasia. Personally, I think Steve Madden's posts on this thread have far more rational merit than those of some miserable old religious nutter who would deny Steve his death with dignity, on the basis that Grey's imaginary friend says that it's not allowed.

Grey should cease his insensitive prattling and grow a heart.

Grey

Thanks for your enlightenment. What "Born Again" Blog did you plagiarise that from.

To me it has nothing to do with morals. All I am stating is what I wish to do and will do :)

Over 70% of paliative care nurses state they have given drugs knowing they will kill the patient. Should we charge them, jail them, sack them?

At least I have the honesty to state my opinions. While you hide behind psuedo-scientific mumbo jumbo to hide your religious dogma.

Maybe a plasma TV is more important, your incoherent ravings on your blog only confirm why you are a sad, deranged person. Incapable of a single original thought.

Ah Steve...
"To me it has nothing to do with morals. All I am stating is what I wish to do and will do :)"
"At least I have the honesty to state my opinions. While you hide behind psuedo-scientific mumbo jumbo to hide your religious dogma."

To utter these two sentences is an impressive act. Considering how your "question" that you repeatedly said you wanted answered was "Who has the right to deny me this, my choice. To those whose morals and ethics tell them this is wrong, get stuffed. If you want to die a protracted death, alone, in a incoherent morass of drug induced stupor, your choice. Don't insist it should be mine."

That sounds suspiciously like a moral question. Any talk of rights is inherently about morals (I could ask why you have any 'rights' at all?). That you pretend to be 'honest' whilst contradicting yourself is quite informative. What you really sound like is a 5 year old child who is throwing a tantrum when he is told he isn't allowed to do what he wants to do.