I got to thinking about this with the whole "human life" spin off. I know that none of this has anything to do with the government, but bear with me; I'll be back to good ol' Libertarian Pasta soon.

My stance on euthanasia is that an individual absolutely possesses the right to end his/her own life in a clinical setting. In Oregon, there's a "Death With Dignity" Act that has provisions for people that want to die on their own terms. Look here for more information:

http://www.dwd.org/

I'd at least consider it an individual's right to end his/her own life under the following circumstances:

(1) If you become a vegetable, but while you were conscious, you specified in some kind of living will that if you ever got that way that you wanted to die, I think you should be able to.

(2) If you are terminally ill with a disease there is no cure for (or they simply can't cure YOU), and the doctors are sure that you've only got X amount of time to live (not that it necessarily makes it a fact), and you want to end your life before you are consumed by pain, then again, I think you should be able to.

(3) If you are conscious, but are reliant on 24/7 medical care (iron lung, etc) and your medical bills are threatening to bankrupt your family, and you no longer wish to be a burden, then go ahead and get unplugged.

Anybody?

-- Pasta (ravioli@ragu.com), November 09, 2004

Answers

I think the BEST argument I saw to the contrary of this thread had something to do with The Netherlands. Apparently, in the 10 years that euthanasia has been legal there, something like 6000 people have been euthanized without their consent. This could be just a fraction of the real number since there are those that estimate that 80% of the cases go unreported. I'm not sure what the circumstances were (could it happen in the States and whatnot), or even if any of this shit is true; I'll look into it if anybody's interested.

-- Pasta (spaghetti@linguine.com), November 09, 2004.

I'd be VERY interested if you could find reliable online sources to this. As I understand it, a couple of doctors in the N. could assert you wanted to die, and end your life. I'd be a bit leary of being old and sick and going to the hospital, especially if my hmo was cost-cutting.

Bazooka Joe

-- 2 (1@3.4), November 09, 2004.

I'll do some homework, Beej. By the way, that's the funniest post I've read since I've been here. :D

-- Pasta (ramen@noodles.com), November 09, 2004.