>
SRF Walrus
Mt. Washington, Ca
Open discussions about SRF
Gold Community SRF Walrus
    > Catch All
        > Ideas on euthanasia.
New Topic    Add Reply

<< Prev Topic | Next Topic >>
Author Comment
redpurusha
Registered User
(4/9/04 5:22 pm)
Reply
Ideas on euthanasia.
I just read this and it suggests that if Gandhi were alive today, he would endorse some forms of euthanasia, or assisted killing due to to excessive suffering or inability to live a satisfactory functional life. This is in contrast to Pope John Paul II's extreme stand of pro-life (at all costs). I love the pope but take Gandhi's side on the issue (if the assumption is true.)

"Gandhi's compassion includes kindness and love for all animals. He does not believe in hurting anything, yet he is not a fanatic on this subject, for he ordered a cow to be killed to relieve it from the suffering of desease." -Man's Eternal Quest p123.

WindChimes44
Registered User
(4/20/04 12:41 am)
Reply
Re: Ideas on euthanasia.
I personally think the government has no right to demand that a person continue to live if that person self defines their life as unbearable suffering. The right to die seems as primary to me as the right to live. And since people who in nature would be mercifully dead are held by heroic means in unbearable misery... that to me is torture.

That said, I have learned a great deal from the Hospice movement. Often it is foolish and cruel interpretations of drug laws that create the unbearable suffering. Most pain can be relieved, but a doctor prescribing sufficient morphine is highly likely to lose their license to practice. As if there was some reason to worry about someone becoming addicted who has months to live!!

However, I am mindful of the quotation that 'I do not want to live' generally actually means 'I do not want to live like this.' So first any potential leavers of life might be offered better pain control, a better care situation such as hospice or other options, a way to live that is not unbearable suffering.

<< Prev Topic | Next Topic >>

Add Reply

Email This To a Friend Email This To a Friend
Topic Control Image Topic Commands
Click to receive email notification of replies Click to receive email notification of replies
Click to stop receiving email notification of replies Click to stop receiving email notification of replies
jump to:

- SRF Walrus - Catch All -



Powered By ezboardŽ Ver. 7.32
Copyright Š1999-2005 ezboard, Inc.