Assisted Suicide Poll.

[AzureWolf]

Yes to the first two and yes to the last although that is not a question that should be answered in haste.
Another thing to point out is if the person who is terminally ill is not religious themselves then religious morals should not enter the picture even if some of the relatives are.

[Sigmar]

I voted yes for the first and last. a doctor should never have to kill a patient under ANY circumstances, he took an oath. Perhaps a nurse but not a doctor. But preferably a family member should do it. A sad situation, but part of our harsh reality I suppose.

[Ar-Cunin]

Yes to the first two - no to the third

It has be be the choice of the individual when his/her life is going to end.

Yes, but the problem of incapacity is they CANNOT make their choice known.

Personally I wouldn't like to see someone suffer like that. If there was a choice, it should indeed be maded by them. Even then, however, it is still not going to be easy for the loved ones to go through with it

[Barry the Sprout]

I voted yes to the first two and no to the last as well. Yorick, I share your concern but I honestly think this is the best way in a minority of cases. And I stress that, it has to be the exception rather than the rule in order to avoid exactly what you are describing. Death should not be taken lightly under any circumstances and as such this really must be a last resort in my mind.

The major worry I had with number three is that there is no real way of being certain it is the patients wish. If the patient is able to express a wish to die, in certain circumstances and if there really is no hope, then I think there is nothing wrong with it happening.

[Calaethis Dragonsbane]

I believe that every person should have the right to end his or her life... but it would depend on the circumstances more then anything.... as to family deciding.... I am unsure... again it would depend on the situation. As to doctors helping... probably yes... but... it is a very 'grey' area, in my opoion, there *is* no 'right' or 'wrong'... still...

[/)eathKiller]

Dr. Kavorkian started carrying a handgun around with him which he claims is to protect him from angry people who'd like to see him dead, if you ask me, I just think he's gettin' lazy [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Lord of Alcohol]

I voted yes to all three. Although I think I would do it myself when I knew it was time. A handful of oxycotin oughta do.......

[Melusine]

I would tentatively vote yes to all three as well, haven't voted yet though. Like some of the others, the wording in question three makes me doubt.
I am completely decided on the first two questions, however. I think a person should have the right to decide about his/her life anyway (even though I certainly think someone with suicidal tendencies should be prevented from doing it in any way possible, in the end it's their own decision to make), but in the case of a terminal illness, this holds true even more. I mean, the relatives/loved ones of the patient have no idea what excruciating pain he/she is going through, so they cannot make a judgement about whether the patient should be "allowed" to end the suffering. How CAN they judge about that when they don't have to go through the same suffering, let alone imagine what it would be like?
Sorry, but especially in the cases where the patient will eventually die of the illness anyway, I think it is inhuman to deny them the right to die in a reasonably dignified way.

I have to apologize for the wording of the last question. Due to the space limitation on the question form I had a hard time trying to think of a way to phrase it so that it would fit. The last question..was in my mind concerning the occurance of a massive head trauma where there is little or no sign of personality, or the patient is in so much agony that they are not coherent (as I am told that some bone cancer patients get this way)...All I could think of was being in sheer agony and being unable to muster the strength or control to make my wishes known. I guess this throws into light another issue, in that we all should have some sort of legal document outlining our wishes made while we are still healthy.