pudge's Journal: Assisted Suicide

If it were not possible to die by our own hand -- think Groundhog Day -- would doctor-assisted suicide be legal today?

That is, is one of the primary reasons we disallow it that we think it is unnecessary? We don't like the government doling out this authority to kill, and it is not -- in almost all cases -- necessary, because people can find ways to kill themselves if they wish (they simply prefer not to, for various reasons). But if it were "necessary," would we allow it?

Inalienable rights

[bluto]

From a historical viewpoint, as far as the US is concerned, I suppose it has been viewed as rather hypocritical to promote a belief in inalienable rights (i.e. certain rights descend from God and no man has a right to take them away), and then also believe the state should support someone doing something that only their creator has a right to do.

As for why this isn't currently allowed by law I don't know. I'm sure it will head that way before too long since it seems that many people either don't believe th

euthanasia

[JDizzy]

As far as I'm aware, the precedent setting court cases were with Dr. Jack Kevorkian's assisted suicide, or medical euthanasia. As far as I know, the only civilized country that has any type of legal euthanasia is the Netherlands. Obvious somebody that is highly motivated will suicide no matter what, but that tends to be messy, and paradoxically against the law. So if a person manages to survive, they could go to jail, or whatever.

Interestingly, Governor Bush (ok he is now president Bush) enacted a law here

Re:euthanasia

[jdavidb]

So anyways, specific examples aside, do we have the right to die?

I've heard it stated that the right to liberty is an "unalienable right," and thus cannot be taken away even if the person himself wishes it. Thus, a person cannot sell himself into slavery. Something about that has always bugged me at a fundamental level, not because I particularly love slavery, but because if I truly OWN MYSELF, then I am my own property and theoretically I should legally be allowed to do whatever I want with my own pr

Only after you've paid your taxes!

[John Harrison]

The government has a lot invested in me. I went to public schools for 13 years. I have all these federally backed student loans. I pay taxes! Of course they don't want me to die just now. They want me to die the day before I start collecting social security.

Re:Only after you've paid your taxes!

[jdavidb]

You might like this interesting article [lewrockwell.com].