Epsilon Wrote:if a person wants to die they can hardly be said to be in their right mind.
Having both a grandparent who didn't pass easily, and having dealt with depression on a personal level, I think the above is circular logic (or possibly a tautology, it's late so I may be mixing up my terms). Saying that a person must be insane if they want to die is a very strong statement.
I am a firm believer in personal choice. If someone takes a look at their life, and makes the decision that they don't want to continue living, that is their choice.
If Jack Kevorkian (or someone else) offered euthanasia without any sort of socially acceptable framework to measure applicability*, then there are going to be cases where that person is blamed for pushing it on to those who shouldn't have died.
*There are going to be cases where we all agree that "yes, this person should be allowed to end their life". And there are going to be cases where the we all agree that a person should not have died. It's the vast middle ground of grey that causes the controversy.
Without some way to reduce that massive swath of gray to black and white (or at least a much smaller set of controversial cases), where we can all agree on the criteria that are being measured, any person or institution attempting to do the same will be inviting a firestorm onto themselves.
At the least I can say this:
He believed that some people should be allowed to end their own life.
His criteria that defined that set of people didn't mesh with a significant portion of the population.
He continued in his beliefs despite the bad press/negative impact it had on his life.
I don't have to agree with him, but I can respect him for that.
-Terry
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"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy