Dr. Kevorkian & assisted suicide

As some of you probably know, Dr. Jack Kevorkian passed away today due to long term kidney problems/complications from Pneumonia. For those of you that don't know who Dr. Kevorkian is, he is a doctor that was very well known for assisted suicide of terminally ill patients. For more on him refer to his Wikipedia article.

Anyways, the reason I'm making this thread is because I'm curious on what all of you guys think about assisted suicide. Please keep in mind that Dr. Kevorkian only assisted in the suicide of terminally ill patients, to help them pass in a more comfortable and less painless way; rather than suffering until the end of their existence.

Looking forward to reading everyone's replies/arguments!

 

Should be allowed depending on the circumstances.

I feel it could be abused if made legal, like people would want to commit suicide and ask someone else to assist them in it

 

If someone wants to die, then that is their choice. At least they are doing it through a doctor and in a controlled environment, as opposed to hanging themselves in the garage.

I support Dr. Death and his work.

 

Exactly. In this they can at least let the family know when its going to happen so they can be there for them and there is really no reason to keep terminally ill patients alive and suffering if they would rather pass away peacefully.

 

Assisted suicide can be appropriate due to the kind of situation, like what Dr. Kevorkian did.. But somehow it just doesn't seem right to me and I wouldn't take part in assisted suicide.

 

The doctor was just trying to put the people out of their misery. If someone wants to leave this world then its their right. I don't see any problems with this.

 

I agree with this, but only in terminally ill cases. I think the doctor was a valiant fighter for something he believed to be morally right.

 

I think if the person wants to commit suicide and they are going to die anyway, then they should get to choose what they want..
I personally would rather someone kill me rather than sit in a hospital bed for months suffering.

 

I believe he was a great man for what he did - as he assisted the unwell, when they were looking for the final release.
In my opinion, assisted suicide is morally right, depending on the circumstances.

 

Ok when i first started reading this I thought that it wasn't that bad if a terminally ill person wants to end their life sooner than letting the disease slowly and painfully kill them that should be their choice.

But then I read this "The report further asserted that Kevorkian's counseling was too brief (with at least 19 patients dying less than 24 hours after first meeting Kevorkian) and often lacked a psychiatric exam, even when Kevorkian had been alerted that the patient was unhappy for reasons other than their medical condition. The report also stated that Kevorkian failed to refer at least 17 patients to a pain specialist after they complained of chronic pain, and sometimes failed to obtain a complete medical record for his patients, with at least three autopsies of suicides Kevorkian had assisted with showing the person who committed suicide to have no physical sign of disease."

This changed my mind, if someone is depressed and in the hospital you shouldn't take advantage of the situation and help a perfectly healthy person under stress kill themselves. And he deserved the sentence he was given for this reason alone.

 

We have the sense to terminate the lives of dogs if they are to experience unimaginable suffering, yet we cannot extend the same privilege to humans?

 

I find it puzzling that almost everyone that has replied to this thread supports him, yet he was a very controversial person.
Either everyone here oddly agrees, or the people who don't agree with what he did are too scared to post. (Haha ;p)

 

Death is a treatment at times.

 

That is a good point. We 'put animals out of their misery' for things as simple as a broken leg at times, yet we have people that are suffering with multiple physical and mental deformities, and are suffering a great deal more than a dog with a broken leg, yet we do everything humanly possible to keep this human living.

 

Human Rights vs. Animal Rights

 

The right to life starts with the individual. If that individual does not want to live, suicide, in my opinion, is a viable option. Please understand that I don't mean everyone who has a bad day should go and off themselves, but in a case like terminally ill patients that will die a possibly painful and slow death, I believe assisted suicide is worthwhile and, in my opinion, humane.

 

It was all going so well until you said this...

"to help them pass in a more comfortable and less painless way; rather than suffering until the end of their existence."

can you say fallacy?

I think physician assisted suicide is wrong and should remain illegal for a plethora of reasons which i'll go into if anybody wants me to.

 

i think its ok. As long as the person wants to die. one situation from another may seem more justifiable for this treatment but in the end i think that if you want to die, you want to die...whose to tell you what to do with your own life/body.

 

I want you to. I doubt you will convince me.

 

I don't aim to convince you, but i'll give you my arguments for my view if you want.