What is your position on Mercy Killings?

[YoungRider]

Mercy killing is defined as the killing of one person by another. The victim of mercy killing is normally in the vegetable state or has an injury or illness that cannot be cured, as it is usually in its last stage. The victim experiences immensely painful last days just before his or her death. For a voluntary case of mercy killing to take place, the killer must first obtain the consent of the victim, but there have been recorded cases of mercy killing against the wishes of the victim as well.

This is known as involuntary mercy killing. Mercy killing is known as euthanasia. The victim of a mercy killing dies a painless death after suffering an incurable ailment or serious injury. The term euthanasia, which means mercy killing, is derived from the Greek word for 'good death'. Euthanasia has been legalised in some Western countries but is still considered to be an unethical practice in the Third World.

OT: My girlfriend is doing this class for homework. She has to write a debate about it. I would like some strong selling point's and maybe some against point's for it as well. I'll even add a poll.

[Primernova]

Merry killings sound very festive!

Mercy killings are a right to life issue, I know very well. It should be legal if the person wants it done, simple as that.

[Machriren]

On it like fat kids on anything sugary.

Look, In most cases, its more then nessacery, If i was in a hospital after coming out of a horrific car crash, broken neck/brain damage/paralysed, Who would want to come out of that on the other end. I certainly wouldnt. To live the rest of my life in pain... ugh

[Sinner563]

ho boy, let's hope we can get a change to the title. Protip - when you make a post about a serious topic, make sure you spell the title correctly.

Now, what do I think to it? I think that if a person of sound mind has a legal document that says they want to be killed if and when they can no longer look after themselves, I believe that is their right.

Do I think that the choice should go into the next of kin once you are no longer of sound mind? No. No one else should ever make the choice for you, no matter how close.

[Primernova]

OT: My girlfriend is doing this class for homework. She has to write a debate about it. I would like some strong selling point's and maybe some against point's for it as well. I'll even add a poll.

My GF is a Hospice RN, and tells me horror stories of famlies that will not let loved ones pass on, even as old as 109... It's torture for them, life is over and they want to go.

[Deleted]

It should be personal choice, I would not like to live on as a vegetable or paralysed from the neck down.

[Rixis]

Merry killings sound very festive!

Mercy killings are a right to life issue, I know very well. It should be legal if the person wants it done, simple as that.

you stole my joke

and i agree, if someone wants to die and are in an "unliveable" condition, then let them have their wish

[Kisho]

If the person wants to die, it's their own right to choose. It's their life to do what they will with it. The question then becomes 'who should do the killing?', because obviously they cannot do it themselves. If they could, it'd be a fairly simple suicide.

Choosing who does it is difficult. I hope I'm never in the situation where a loved one asks me to kill them. That's the sort of thing that hangs on your conscience for the rest of your life, always asking 'what if?'. I suppose if you turn it around, that's a pretty good argument against Euthanasia: it's pretty selfish to ask someone else to kill you, because then they're potentially plagued with guilt for the rest of their life.

So I suppose I'm torn. On the one hand, it's their own right to choose to die. But on the other, it's a horrible thing to go through for the person left behind. Eh, there's my ramblings on the topic at any rate.

[Purlina]

A life of extreme pain and suffering with no hope of recovery is not a life someone should be forced to live.

Why force someone to face excruciating pain just to die one or two years later?

Being doped up on pain medication and being subject to test after test does not make the situation any better.

[Adam Jensen]

Well on one hand, there's always the hope that there'll be a medical breakthrough that allows use to bring that person out of their vegetative state and it would kinda suck to kill them if the day after they died, the breakthrough hit the news. It is also difficult, perhaps impossible, to know what the victim wants if he isn't explicit about it before hand. Maybe he wants to live?

On the other hand, living in such a state must be god awful. I can't comprehend how terrible it would be and I would not want to live like that nor would I want to burden my family to take care of me. And the reality is, that breakthrough probably won't happen anytime soon.

So its not an easy debate.

Read Johnny Got His Gun if you want a disturbing perspective on this issue (the protagonist was hit by a mortar in WWI, lost all his limbs, his eyes, nose, mouth and ears.) The protagonist of the book wanted death because he lived in a nightmare world trapped in his own dreams and consciousness.

[Tokru]

and i agree, if someone wants to die and are in an "unliveable" condition, then let them have their wish

I even would delete the part with unliveable condition.

[Tzzentch]

an 80 year old guy my mum used to work with at the old folks home said he wanted to die

he was born as a prince in Bavaria before the rise of the nazis
got thrown under his bed when Nazis stormed his house and killed his family
escaped to france after running for s few years
joined the frence revolution
fled to Australia and was imprisoned as an enemy spy
got out and flew solo around the world after the war
went to Egypt and excavated the valley of the kings

and finally wound up in an old peoples home in Albany, Western Australia

he said it wasn't because he was sad or anything, he'd lived his life and now dementia was slowly eating those memories.
he just wanted to go out with dignity
like he always said. "I've lived my life and i'm happy i've done enough"

[Deleted]

I think it was a year or two ago in Sweden, the very topic became noted because a woman wanted to have her life ended. She had been paralyzed since she was about 6 years old, she had a good life up until she was about 25, but then she decided that the pain was becoming too much and that she couldn't enjoy herself like she used to. She wanted to die before the pains got unbearable.
I fully support someone who wants to die when they have nothing more for them but pain and they felt they had a fulfilling life. She did get her wish in the end and because she didn't want to die because she was depressed, it felt like she got what she needed and that was for the pain to stop.
Anyone in good emotional state and fully aware of their life quality, I support.

However, I don't agree everybody should have the choice to be allowed to be mercy killed just by signing a paper. I've read blogs by depressed teenagers who cry they should be allowed "mercy killing" because their boyfriends broke up and they feel like they don't want to live anymore. Obviously in such cases, the person is not in their right emotional state to make such a decision.

[Traejun]

It's your life...do with it what you please. If someone wants to die, let them die.

[sam86]

I'm against it, but I can't force others on my opinion
I will never chose mercy killings, but if (like the movie million dollar baby) the other insist I won't really hold him/her

[Idrinkwhiterussians]

I am amazed at the poll results so far to be honest.

This restores a bit of my faith in humanity.


I do believe someone should have the choice. It never should be decided by loved ones, as they might make the wrong decision based on what the individual wants.

[Larynx]

People have the right to live their life as they please, so they should also have the right to take their life away if they so choose.

---------- Post added 2011-12-08 at 01:24 PM ----------

I am amazed at the poll results so far to be honest.

This restores a bit of my faith in humanity.


I do believe someone should have the choice. It never should be decided by loved ones, as they might make the wrong decision based on what the individual wants.

I was too when I saw the the results.

[Siri]

It is unfathomable to me how one can be against putting someone out of their misery, if such is their wish, when we extend the same courtesy to animals and call it "humane".

[Scratchee]

I had to make this decision with my family when my grandpa suffered a series of massive strokes which left him in a vegetable state. In life, my grandpa was extremely hard-working, stubborn and driven through his work by his incredibly strong willpower despite his constant pain due to being plagued with arthritis, multiple joint replacements, broken back, high blood pressure...you name it. Our deciscion to take him off life support was quick and unanimous without having a second thought. We knew that he would have never EVER wanted to see his self in such a helpless state. We knew that he would rather die than suffer in a bed, relying on caretakers to give him a sponge bath once a week and never being able to eat a plate of food again. If he could have spoken, I am absolutely sure that he would have been screaming for death.