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I share your view, but it gets crazy complicated when you're dealing with homicide (I'm using this word to mean it's literal definition: 'death caused by anothe

I share your view, but it gets crazy complicated when you're dealing with homicide (I'm using this word to mean it's literal definition: 'death caused by another person', not to mean a crime occurred necessarily). Euthanasia is controversial for a lot of reasons. Some people worry that authoritarians will use it as a way to "purge" or, such as here in Canada, as a way to "reneg" on health care obligations that tax payers are paying for. Others worry that family members and care providers will abuse the law for financial gain ("legal murder" for inheritance etc.). Then you have cases like this one: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-maid-father-daughter-court-injunction-judicial-review-decision-1.7154794 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-maid-father-d... It's complicated because we're not talking about an elderly person with terminal cancer. We're talking about a 27 year-old high functioning adult who sought, and was granted, medical assistance in dying due to a mental illness. When you dive into that story, even if you agree that the courts made the right decision and that the 27 year-old had the right to decide her own fate, your heart can't not break thinking about the father. Morally, I agree that every [adult] individual has the right to commit suicide by any means of their choosing (as long as they're not infringing upon the rights of others in the process). That doesn't mean that there aren't valid reasons for people to debate whether or not ehutanasia should be legal and under what circumstances.

thijson 2y ago
I'm reminded of this guy each time this topic comes up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4NU_84eCKI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4NU_84eCKI https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/in-2000-walkerton-s-poisoned-water-ruined-his-life-he-decided-it-was-time-to/article_9da32b4c-fbc3-5f98-a72f-5410983e1152.html https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/in-2000-walkerton-s-pois...
themaninthedark 2y ago
I agree it's a difficult subject. To your point about "Some people worry that authoritarians will use it as a way to "purge" or, such as here in Canada, as a way to "reneg" on health care obligations that tax payers are paying for." In another thread the Canadian poster talked about someone who decided to go through with ending their life and one of the things they mentioned was "They had to drive 100km to the nearest dialysis clinic."
enaaem 2y ago
We have euthanasia in the Netherlands for decades now and there haven't been any controversies as far as I know. It's a solved problem and the discussion here is over. I do agree that the laws and procedures have to be carefully constructed to prevent abuse, but it is possible.
- gspencley 2y ago
  I'm not here to tell you about your country, for which I know very little. But since I'm Canadian and euthanasia here is very new and very controversial, I decided to look up the framework in the Netherlands. From the wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euthanasia_in_the_Netherlands https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euthanasia_in_the_Netherlands, this stood out to me: > There is much discussion about people with early dementia who have previously stated in a written will that if they ever got dementia, they would want to get euthanasia. This doesn't necessarily mean "controversy", but is very much an ongoing discussion and speaks to a problem that euthanasia introduces that has yet to be solved in the Netherlands. And this really is the issue and complexity when it comes to euthanasia in general: we're talking about a form of legal homicide. So under what circumstances this should be permitted is a very valid legal question. Questions about consent, state of mind, paper trails and proof of consent are also very pressing questions and it sounds like no, not ALL of these questions are currently answered in the Dutch framework. This is also not me arguing against euthanasia. I believe that adults have the right to commit suicide by any means of their choosing (assuming they're not infringing upon the rights of others in the process). The only thing I'm saying, really, is "it's a complicated issue with lots to consider."
  - enaaem 2y ago
    We are at a stage where we are discussing edge cases of euthanasia and it's all related to widening the use; these discussions mostly happen among professionals. There is pretty much no discussion anymore on "vanilla" euthanasia among the general public. I agree it's complicated, but you don't have to solve every edge case with the first iteration.

thijson 2y ago

I'm reminded of this guy each time this topic comes up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4NU_84eCKI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4NU_84eCKI https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/in-2000-walkerton-s-poisoned-water-ruined-his-life-he-decided-it-was-time-to/article_9da32b4c-fbc3-5f98-a72f-5410983e1152.html https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/in-2000-walkerton-s-pois...

themaninthedark 2y ago

I agree it's a difficult subject. To your point about "Some people worry that authoritarians will use it as a way to "purge" or, such as here in Canada, as a way to "reneg" on health care obligations that tax payers are paying for." In another thread the Canadian poster talked about someone who decided to go through with ending their life and one of the things they mentioned was "They had to drive 100km to the nearest dialysis clinic."

enaaem 2y ago

We have euthanasia in the Netherlands for decades now and there haven't been any controversies as far as I know. It's a solved problem and the discussion here is over. I do agree that the laws and procedures have to be carefully constructed to prevent abuse, but it is possible.

gspencley 2y ago
I'm not here to tell you about your country, for which I know very little. But since I'm Canadian and euthanasia here is very new and very controversial, I decided to look up the framework in the Netherlands. From the wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euthanasia_in_the_Netherlands https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euthanasia_in_the_Netherlands, this stood out to me: > There is much discussion about people with early dementia who have previously stated in a written will that if they ever got dementia, they would want to get euthanasia. This doesn't necessarily mean "controversy", but is very much an ongoing discussion and speaks to a problem that euthanasia introduces that has yet to be solved in the Netherlands. And this really is the issue and complexity when it comes to euthanasia in general: we're talking about a form of legal homicide. So under what circumstances this should be permitted is a very valid legal question. Questions about consent, state of mind, paper trails and proof of consent are also very pressing questions and it sounds like no, not ALL of these questions are currently answered in the Dutch framework. This is also not me arguing against euthanasia. I believe that adults have the right to commit suicide by any means of their choosing (assuming they're not infringing upon the rights of others in the process). The only thing I'm saying, really, is "it's a complicated issue with lots to consider."
- enaaem 2y ago
  We are at a stage where we are discussing edge cases of euthanasia and it's all related to widening the use; these discussions mostly happen among professionals. There is pretty much no discussion anymore on "vanilla" euthanasia among the general public. I agree it's complicated, but you don't have to solve every edge case with the first iteration.