Voluntary Ethanasia?

What a hypocritical society we are! We can send off our prime young men and women to kill and maim other human beings, all at the stroke of a pen, or the fall of a marble, ....this in the name of "defence" (which in recent times seems to have been simply to back up the irrational actions of megalomaniacs in their bid to attain world conquest, or create a name memorable to history!).....and at the same time that we are accepting these obscene and devastating commitments, to indiscriminately kill upon request in the name of war, we have the audacity to deny our fellow human beings the right to determine when to end their own lives?

Come on you so-called human beings out there, accept reality!

For some people and for varying reasons, this world may not be a very nice or hospitable place to live, and for some it can be a living hell each and every passing day! Who then has the right to refuse a calm and relatively dignified demise from a world that views them purely as a religious or financial statistic?

The bit about 18 year olds didn't bother me so much. It seemed like a bit of an ambit claim, but then, 18 year olds can suffer horribly painful and slow deaths as much as 80 year olds can. You wouldn't contemplate it if, say, an 18 year old was depressed, but you'd certainly want to help an 18 year old dying of a horrible and painful disease.

There's no way anybody is going to legislate to allow 18 year olds to access assisted death for anything but extreme cases.

The thing that stuck with me was the thought of the elderly trying to hang themselves. The practicalities of it. The loss of dignity. To me that's far more extreme than helping them die in a humane way.

Nitchke did admit that he had changed his views on 18yos, and allowed that "life experience" was important in being able to make a sensible decision to end one's own life in the face of terminal illness. His workshops are for 55+ yo's only.

My bet is that voluntary euthanasia is going to be eventually pushed through as the health costs of supporting the current crop of baby boomers in their final months become unmanageable. In other words, it will be a stark choice between allowing those who wish to to end their lives peacefully, and having everybody else suffer as the healthcare system is stretched past its limits, which will tip the moral argument too heavily in favour of V.E. for their to be any serious objectors. As I understand it, the cost of keeping people alive in the last 6 months of their lives is often as much as the healthcare costs accrued during the rest of their lives.

On that basis, I'd expect to see it legal within 10 years, 15 tops.

Having worked in the geriatric industry for seven years, anything would be preferable to the thought of a vegetable like existence.

I'm nearly seventy and have to face the fact that my body is deteriorating while my mind thunders on at a great rate.

Nursing homes are my greatest nightmare. Please don't make me live just to give the medical profession another patient; to give Centrelink another pensioner to mess around with.

Quality of life should be considered.

foxy, the rights you have are those you can enforce. notice the 'force'. unlike most human rights, this one is hard to take away.

old people, indeed anyone, not radically incapacitated can die when they want. what this discussion is about is arranging that their death not be painful or unnecessarily inconvenient to bystanders, that the time and place be a dignified 'good-bye' among friends and family rather than a disruption of blood and flesh among strangers.

life is a death sentence. people who choose to appeal by prolonging life at great expense through ever more sophisticated medical procedures haven't caught on that the best part is behind, never to return.

more admirable, i suggest, is a choice to get off the stage and leave more space and resources to the next lot.

Yes, we should have the right to end it on our own terms when it would be preferable over the reality of many diseases. Not having the right is just ANOTHER example of the hangover of religion's influence on politics in our society.

Let people be responsible for their own decisions. Just because some religions believe it's a sin, everyone has the adhere to those personal beliefs. Same is said for stem cell research. IF you have an issue with it. Don't use it.

We're humane to animals, but not humans. Go figure.