Should Massachusetts Allow Assisted Suicide?
It's one question voters will weigh in November.
Should terminally ill patients be allowed to be given a lethal drugs at their request?
That's one question Massachusetts voters will be expected to consider when the hit the voting booth in November. The initiative, called "Death with Dignity," received enough signatures to be placed on the ballot in November, according to the state's attorney general.
The proposal in Massachusetts would allow individuals who have been diagnosed with an illness that will cause death within six months to obtain medication to self-administer to end their life.
If passed, Massachusetts would join Oregon, Washington and Montana as the only states in the country that allow assisted suicide.
Diane Healey
1:32 pm on Friday, July 27, 2012
"Death with Dignity" should be our right, we have the right to put our beloved animals at peace without making them suffer, why do we make our termanilly ill family members live through the pain and agony?
Maria Karafelis
2:25 pm on Friday, July 27, 2012
Diane, I can't agree with you more. Be able to give a loved one peace, is priceless and should be an option when all other medical avenues have been exhausted.
Tom Christiano
7:12 am on Saturday, July 28, 2012
Very well stated Diane. I have compassion for all human beings as well as for my beloved animals. There is no good reason to allow our friends and family members to suffer for months on end when we have the medications to end their pain, if this Bill passes and is signed into State Law. I strongly support "Death with Dignity" Laws throughout the world, as I have witnessed a great deal of "unnecessary" pain and suffering by friends and family members.....pain and suffering that could have been avoided if only we had more "Death with Dignity" Laws in this country.
Caroline Jordan
7:16 am on Saturday, July 28, 2012
I am in complete agreement with Diane and Maria. This end of life topic (and others) must be discussed more in our culture, our families and among our medical caregivers. Let the conversation begin and the living wills rule. Dogs and cats don't have a living will, yet in the end, we do the "humane" thing...oh the irony.
Anna Bucciarelli
9:31 am on Saturday, July 28, 2012
I am ambivalent about this ... I have seen my share of suffering but have also seen it alleviated with medication. I just cannot seem to come to terms with ending a life by human request, but I understand the need to address this important issue. I just cannot wrap my mind around it ... at least, not now.
Iron Mike
9:43 am on Saturday, July 28, 2012
Here's an idea...
Let's pass a version of the bill - for Registered Democrats only. Then review it in 10 years and see if they liked it.
We WOULD have to stipulate that any Democrat who agreed to assisted suicide - would ALSO have to be removed from the voting rolls!
Joe Chen
2:48 pm on Sunday, July 29, 2012
Iron Mike,
It's rare to see the stupidity of the Republican Party so fully expressed in the opinions of one person.
Well done
myron
10:55 am on Saturday, July 28, 2012
the only difference between this and hospice is you do the drugs and you decide when. Don't know if I could ever do it but will vote for it. It is my right.
Tom Gilroy
1:39 pm on Saturday, July 28, 2012
Those that believe that abortion is their right, will also believe that assisted suicide is their right. Where did you get that right from man of from God? What does He think about abortion and suicide? Our rights are inalienable given to us by God and they are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Where do we get the right to abortion and assisted suicide?
Anna Bucciarelli
4:47 pm on Saturday, July 28, 2012
Well said Tom. And Myron is right on ... hospice is unbelievably helpful to the ill person and to family. However, I do not think I can go ahead and vote for this bill ... it's a prostitution of "my right" ... I do not see it that way at all. I do, however, understand why some people would go along with it, it's the easy way to end it all. Just not how I see it.
Iron Mike
3:02 pm on Sunday, July 29, 2012
Replying to Joe Chen:
You mean Joe that I'm 'stupid' to believe that dead Democrats would ever be removed from the voter rolls? I understand that James Michael Curley still votes EVERY election in Boston.
John Doe
6:02 pm on Sunday, July 29, 2012
Tom, first, you are a religious zealot. Please do not force your "god" on me.
Second, abortion and assisted suicide could not be more different. Those who are pro life believe that a fetus is a person and therefore abortion is "murder" (a ludicrous claim IMO). Assisted suicide is the decision to take one's own life, with full understanding. Not even the same discussion.
Finally, hospice has nothing to do with this discussion. If I ever reach a point where I soil myself and need to be fed, I don't want hospice, I want death. In fact, I'd choose death before it got to that point.
Where do you get the gall to presume to tell me I "must" continue living?? Such ego.
Irene
4:18 am on Monday, July 30, 2012
why try and save those who want to commit suicide when not physically ill? Or should we extend this to those who feel nothing is worth living for? who is to be the judge? what a slippery slope...
Elaine Kindler
5:03 pm on Friday, August 3, 2012
Human life is different to every other form of life because humans - male & female - are made in the image of God. Therefore, ending a human life is not the same as ending a pet's/animal's life. No one has the right to take or end an innocent human life; however, if one doesn't believe in God, this will be hard to accept. Before you vote in favor of legal assisted suicide or voluntary euthanasia, please research the effects in Oregon & Washington states. Also in the Netherlands & other countries where assisted suicide has been legalized. Just as a "right" to abortion has become a duty to abort, the "right" to assisted suicide becomes a duty to die. Imagine the pressure on the very sick & elderly when medical care is rationed? Voluntary euthanasia becomes involuntary euthanasia. You have before you life & death - choose life.