I support it only in situations where one is in pain and very close to death from an illness or from old age. It is not morally correct, in my opinion, to assist someone in suicide because they are depressed. It should only be carried out by the personal medical doctor or a family member of the sick individual, also. They should not be forced to live in a vegetative state or a state of unhappiness while being prolonged on medications for a limited period of time.

If a person has clearly stated (especially a written statement) that that is what they truely want; then, I believe we should grant there wishes. It is not our choice to make choices for someone after a certain point in life unless they so choose for us too.

I do, and I applaud Dr. Kevorkian. This is our life and if any of us got violentally ill, and there was no cure, and we could not stand the pain anymore YES.

If a person is terminally ill and there is no cure, they should be allowed to die, without having to endure horrendous pain and without their family/friends having to stand by helplessly watching their loved one deteriorate. Who is to say anyone should go through that if its against their wishes?

no it should be legal, because it is up to that person whether they want to live and if i were termially ill i would try to make the best of my time, but if i were in excruciating pain or couldnt live a good remaining life I wouldn't want to live.

Normally, Euthenasia is organised in coordination with the family, and it should be. An act like this does not affect only one life. As for the persons life, an end to ones sufferring might be the desired goal - The end in many cases is only months of agony away, anyway. Months the family will bear witness too, and in some cases, Euthenasia would be less painfull for everyone. Obviously, it isnt everyone's cup of tea, but ultimately, it can save the tax payer money in medical expenses, and lost work days from disruptive complications, and painfull developements. Of course, Euthenasia should only be used in the most dire circumstances, but when it is, I think it can be beneficial to all.

This a tough one and i do support euthanasia! i have looked after alot of people who are dying and havn't got a quality of life the rest of us are fortunate to have, and when these patients or people have finally decided enough is enough then who are we to take that choice away! as for the families i feel that they would be in disagreement to this choice mainly out of selfishness and i dont mean that horribly, i mean they dont want their relative to go yet as they are not ready but that person is! Again it is a tricky area and if a relative just aided them to their death because of suffering and not going through the proper channels again this is debateble and is individual to that persons scenario!

If I were in great pain and there were no hope of ever getting better..my quality of life were nil and my loved ones were suffering because of my suffering, I would want someone to help me through by providing release to transition to the other side. If, on the other hand, my loved one asked for my help in doing the same thing, it would be an agonizing decision..but I think I would opt for easing him/her in transition to the other side. Not an easy question to answer..and probably can't be answered until/unless one is in that terrible place of having to decide.

I agree with euthanasia. If you know your life is going to end soon and your in great pain then i dont think theres any problem with it. Its better than suffering. I think its also fair on the family. They then dont have to see their family member go through anymore pain.

I don't feel that it's really much different than having a do not resuscitate order. Either way, you're pretty much saying "I'm not willing to live miserably, I'd rather die".

I'm not in favor of it because I think it is murder, and I'm against suicide anyway. I don't mean to sound insensitive or cruel when I say this, but I just don't believe in suicide, assisted or unassisted. -In the service of the Master. Thank you and God bless you!

I believe that it is not for the lawyers and judges to decide, I believe that if there is no longer a quality of life then assisted suicide should be an available option. I personally would not include anyone in the act of assisting, I would worry about how they would handle that afterwards. Medically assisted,not love one assisted suicide, I agree with.

It is a very personal decision, and no one chooses it lightly. I think it should be between the patient, their doctor and their God. The rest of us have absolutely no business involving ourselves or our beliefs in it. Here in Oregon we have voted to allow doctor assisted suicide. I love Oregon. The people here insist on being heard.

"Assisted suicide" is an oxymoron.

All depends on the reason. Kovarkian was a good man

I hope someone helps me out if I'm ever in need.

It's one of those deals where it's easy to be judgemental unless it's you in pain. Hopefully I'll never be in that situation.

Personally, I'm against any form of suicide, but I believe in educated choice between a doctor and patient.

I'm not a very good assistant. Perhaps you should find someone else.

Where there's life, there's hope....even the slimmest chance is better than no chance at all....No I dont agree with suicide assisted or otherwise. + :o)

I'm pro-euthanasia. Why? Because I think it's inhuman to keep people who are suffering from sicknesses of various kinds, and are in great pain, alive. Take a look at this article http://ekstrabladet.dk//eceRedirect?articleId=978987&pubId=19 - WARNING: disturbing picture!). It's in Danish, but the important part is the picture. The article is about a French woman who's suffering from a dissease of some kind, and pleads the french president to allow euthanasia, so she can be put to rest. You may consider it murder, but can murder be commited out of pity too?

The only person whose feelings matter is the one who is suffering..it is impertinent, arrogant, irrelevant and totally beside the point to consider anyone else..he/she who suffers gets to make the decision..it is nobody else's business..not the Supreme Court, not legislators, not "concerned" citizens, not church members..no one has the right to interfere..no one! :(

It should be legal.

Personally I'm all for euthanasia. If I know I'm going to die from a terminal condition, why would I want to prolong my agony? Never have understood that. Hell for that matter, I don't understand all the wankers who would want to keep me alive. It's my choice...should be anyway. Euthanasia is a humane option. Blowing my own brains out seems kinda messy. Trying to OD on pills is a bit iffy. Hanging...oh hell no. Anyway, my point is, I'd like my physicians assistance with it when the time comes.

Its better than non-assisted, but I rather think it isn't a good solution at all, so the distinction is void in my case.

In principal I have no problem. I can see quite a few practical issues like medical insurers trying to get ill people to take that path, though.

It's inhumane to let your cat or dog suffer in pain so the Vet. or you yourself or a friend will humanely put an end to their suffering. It's done all the time. It is unbelievable that a human can't get the same break. We actually can "pull the plug" in certain situations if the person is brain dead and on a machine. And, a person cannot ask for the "plug" to be pulled/be put out of his/her misery??? I'm an older person and I for the first time am taking a stand on this and have decided that it should be legal in the US.

That it's one thing worth going to prison for.

Truly... If your life reaches a place where there is no real quality of life left and you have to actually live through it until you die, then I believe it's almost a crime to force a person to live through it. I don't believe in suicide for painful life situations (emotional) but I do believe in assisted suicide for people who might suffer from ALS, Alzheimers or other terminal diseases and have lost all quality of life as well as their dignity.

Maybe later.

After seeing my grandmother suffer, I would hope that my daughter would have the guts that I didn't to end my suffering. I'l feel guilty for that forever but I just couldn't bring myself to give her the medicine that hospice told me to

Not good.

I am against suicide period, but assisted suicide is murder in my opinion.

I believe that if you want to die you have every right to and the government should not be able to tell you what you can and cannot do with your body. If someone's quality of living is so bad due to illness or they are terminal they should be able to make the decision to terminate their own lives. We can do this for animals but not for ourselves?! But we all know the medical industry, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies and the government are making too much money by keeping the sick sicker and the dying alive to let anyone make that decision and have a way to lawfully and easily do so.

G'day Beef Chuck, Thank you for your question. I am opposed. In general, we should help people to live not to die. Even if they have a terminal disease, we should try to help them die with as little pain as possible. Assisted suicide can have a slippery slope effect. Regards

because the backward and archaic euthanasia laws have not been repealed and people are still forced to beg to be able to die with dignity...I am for it and would do it without a second thought and have no guilt about it either

Very, very tricky. My opinion is probably to keep it illegal, then treat each case on its merits - have some kind of freedom for a judge to have mercy where it is needed. I think I'd like to have someone help me 'out' if it was necessary, therefore I need to be prepared to do the same for someone else.

Be sure to ask first! ;-)

Several Points of view: 1] If a healthy person takes his/her life for what ever reason, it is suicide and who ever assist them should be charged with murder. 2] If a person with a proved none terminal disease but curable though in a long term, so certified by no less than three physicians, wishes to put and end to his/her life, then it is suicide and murder for the one that helps this person achieve assisted suicide. 3] If a terminally ill patient, that has been proved to have an incurable disease, with a painful short life term, with unknown possibilities to find a cure during said term, wishes to end his/her life with an assisted or merciful death the patient has the right to decide without it being called suicide and the person who assists in such a merciful death should not be charged with murder or any other. Though this may sound as a contradiction to my faith as it is God who gives life and only God can take it, it is also true that if the life term is shorter than the existing term to find a cure, a merciful death is fully justified with all due prove, I will not go into further detail regarding theological matters. The possibility that a miracle occurs and a cure is found shortly after the merciful death will always exist, this is something that all involved will have to deal with as it is a moral and ethical issue. Never the less for me this, in the last case, it continues to be justified as we human beings can not see beyond our best knowledge. The intention behind the merciful death is to liberate the patient from horrible pain and suffering, if so this continues to be a merciful death. I never had to take a standing on Euthanasia, never the less as a physician I have given it more thought as we constantly run into these issues and have to deal with them. It is our duty to evaluate the patient, do our utmost to find an existing cure no matter what it takes, to investigate those that are under study and inform the patient and/or the family to the best of our understanding and knowledge, if accepted we are to use them. Our participation is to certify the illness, all treatment used and other existing possibilities and finally the expected life term. We can not participate or recommend a merciful death as our Hippocratic Oath does not allow it. Assisted suicide can be wrongly applied and thus is dangerous. Regards.

If someone wants to commit suicide, that is their choice. But if they want to involve someone else in their suicide that changes things. And how can you prove that the person who was "assisted" wanted to be assisted? We had a case in Australia recently where there was a lot of evidence that money was more the motive than helping.

It's his/her life to choose to continue living or not.