The Right to die.

[preciousjeni]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Maybe I'm straining at gnats here, but is there a difference between having a "right" to do something (at least legally) and it being ethical to do something? I think there probably is.

I'd say there certainly is.

I think that's why I have a problem with it . . . physician-assisted suicide/euthanasia makes it my decision as to when, not the Lord's. Even if I might legally have the right to decide when I will die, ethically (or religiously, if you prefer), I do not think I have any such right at all.

I agree here as well. However, my beliefs should not dictate what another person does with his/her own body.

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

As a physician, I am completely opposed to physician assisted suicide but completely supportive of withholding any artificial measures to prolong life if requested by the patient or power of attorney. Having a physician assist in a suicide is asking him/her to disregard the first tenant of medicine "First do no harm."

If assisted suicide were ever fully legalized, there could be an entirely separate category of medical professionals who would handle this sort of situation - ones that are not bound by the tenants of medicine.