5 ms·

Those are all valid points. But oddly enough none of them seems to be a problem in Switzerland, where assisted suicide is legal since the 40s (as mentioned in t

Those are all valid points. But oddly enough none of them seems to be a problem in Switzerland, where assisted suicide is legal since the 40s (as mentioned in the article). On a sidenote: You can write a "Patientenverfügung" (loosely transelated: a patient's will), in which you stipulate that you don't want to be kept alive artificially in case of grave illnes. This is respected by hospitals and doctors. Case in point was my mother, who had terminal cancer. The doctors gave her morphine to ease the pain and otherwise didn't do anything to prolong her suffering. She died in a dignified manner.

emodendroket 11y ago
We have "living wills" in the United States and they're the same thing. The controversial issue is active euthanasia, not passive euthanasia. Mostly, anyway.
ikeboy 11y ago
>Because then somebody who is impulsive might agree to be killed when he would've regretted it later if he were still alive. We wouldn't always know in such cases, and there's often no way to know what a dead person would have thought years later if they would have lived.
- lisper 10y ago
  That's not quite true. There are people who attempt suicide and survive. Many (though by no means all) express regret afterwards.
  - ikeboy 10y ago
    That's an excellent point. Obviously we do know sometimes. But GP's point was that we don't observe bad consequences from the laws in Switzerland, all I'm saying is that it wouldn't show up when someone commits suicide.
j_s 11y ago
Se also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_not_resuscitate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_not_resuscitate
bkmartin 10y ago
But what you describe for your mother is called Hospice here in the US. It is simply a lack of treatment when it is believed that treatment offers more suffering and no better outcome. It is the right of the patient to refuse treatment and enter into hospice care and be kept comfortable until they die. That is not assisted suicide.

emodendroket 11y ago

We have "living wills" in the United States and they're the same thing. The controversial issue is active euthanasia, not passive euthanasia. Mostly, anyway.

ikeboy 11y ago

>Because then somebody who is impulsive might agree to be killed when he would've regretted it later if he were still alive. We wouldn't always know in such cases, and there's often no way to know what a dead person would have thought years later if they would have lived.

lisper 10y ago
That's not quite true. There are people who attempt suicide and survive. Many (though by no means all) express regret afterwards.
- ikeboy 10y ago
  That's an excellent point. Obviously we do know sometimes. But GP's point was that we don't observe bad consequences from the laws in Switzerland, all I'm saying is that it wouldn't show up when someone commits suicide.

j_s 11y ago

Se also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_not_resuscitate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_not_resuscitate

bkmartin 10y ago

But what you describe for your mother is called Hospice here in the US. It is simply a lack of treatment when it is believed that treatment offers more suffering and no better outcome. It is the right of the patient to refuse treatment and enter into hospice care and be kept comfortable until they die. That is not assisted suicide.