(small intro to article)

>>I'm not afraid of dying - only of livingWhen he realised he could no longer read or write, 81-year-old Parkinson's sufferer Ernst-Karl Aschmoneit decided he no longer wanted to live. Two days ago, that wish was realised when he travelled to a Zurich euthanasia clinic.

by Carol Midgley

In a few hours Auschmoneit will have committed assisted suicide, lying on a single bed in a small suburban apartment. Tomorrow his body will be cremated and later his ashes will be scattered on Water, as he has instructed.<<

This is an article from 2003 so it is not recent but I watched a documentary about this man a few years ago and I've never forgotten it.

I'm interested in the opinions of others. Thoughts? Ideas? Remember, this is not euthanasia, this is assisted suicide.

I'm not afraid of dying - only of living - Times Online

Well, from that perspective, if god is in control then we shouldn't even have hospitals or insurance. I mean - if no one is taken before their time, who are we to treat them and make them last even longer?

(Again, an unknown, unseen, unproven entity that can do anything and everything, like all superheroes wrapped up in one mega package, is hard to have a logical debate about... kind of like Peter Pan.)

God is in control, not doctors or families.

He will ultimately decide the time and place. We can make the patient comfortable. (Hospice)

The question I have is if not everyone believes in this God, why must they follow the laws of those who created the laws due to their God?

If you talk to the anti-assisted suicide folks and ask them why it is a bad thing they typically claim it is against their God's wishes. Why should someone have to suffer when they don't even believe that God exists? It really doesn't make a lot of sense to base laws around a God when there isn't a shred of proof he even exists.

The question I have is if not everyone believes in this God, why must they follow the laws of those who created the laws due to their God?

If you talk to the anti-assisted suicide folks and ask them why it is a bad thing they typically claim it is against their God's wishes. Why should someone have to suffer when they don't even believe that God exists? It really doesn't make a lot of sense to base laws around a God when there isn't a shred of proof he even exists.

Especially when the person in question (typically an elderly person) wouldn't even be around anyway, most likely, if it were up to a so-called God. Between antibiotics and other advancements in health care, we've increased life expectancy. If it were up to a so-called God, we'd be dead at 35, probably.

If it were up to a so-called God, we'd be dead at 35

We'd also be pregnant, in my case, at age 9 - an in most cases by 12 or 13. If we are by design, then we are meant to conceive when we begin menstruating. But if we aren't meant to have premarital sex, then I guess 9 is a good, consentual age for marriage.

I'm still kinda waiting for someone to explain why their beliefs should be inflicted upon others.

No takers?

seems like you are the most qualified to answer that wasa. Im all eyes/ears....

seems like you are the most qualified to answer that wasa. Im all eyes/ears....

Lizrbit...

We aren't playing your games anymore, remember?

laurend, Im just curious as to how you can shed light on your own question. Im truely interested in what your take is on it, o wise one.

sweethazel, what's your opinion of the topic?

Hi Wheetsin, thanks for asking.

I wish people could be allowed to exit the world however they wish, and with as much grace and dignity as possible. If my friend Joe is chronically unhappy, and makes the decision to end his life, I wish i lived in a society where we could plan for that event and celebrate his passing and his choice. I don't think there is a reason that i can step in and say one way or another is a good enough or not good enough reason, you know what i mean?

I wish it was a viable alternative for those who wish to utilize it, and the stigma taken away.

Chronically unhappy or chronically ill? or both? Sometimes judgment may be impaired, but a mentally sound individual knows when his/her life is over. I have seen it up close on two occasions. Two people very near and dear to my heart that lived through the worst and bravely fought terminal illness simply said "I'm tired, I want to rest". After years of struggling, suffering, and seeing the fighting spirit in their eyes slowly wear away. In the end you know they keep fighting mostly for you because they know you are suffering. For the loving and unselfish watching us suffer hurts them more than their own pains. We urge such people to fight and not give up because it's hard for us to say goodbye. The least we can do for these brave individuals is respect their decision and let them go. It's easy to have opinions one way or the other, in good or fair health with death nowhere near in sight.

The poll would be a little biased, don't you think?

I have stayed out of this debate because it is something that I really don't like talking or even thinking about. But an experience I had this weekend brought it home to me. Now I know that putting down a cat is not the same as a human but I wish that my passing could be as pain free and uncomplecated as my beloved little cat's was.

I wasn't expecting to put him down, but I brought him in to have his cast changed. He broke his leg about a month ago. His leg was infected and was necrotic. Heroic efforts might have let him live for a little longer, but for what? So he could suffer more and die anyway. I was convinced by what the vet said and the fact that he was almost 18 years old that he was not going to recover.

While I was still in the vets office, I called my best friend who is a crazy cat lady and loves animals more than anything else on earth. She said that it is a blessing to have that option. That when her mother had gangrene in an amputated leg she wished that she could have made a choice for euthanasia. Her mother refused any more surgery and died about a month later from sepsis.

There may come a time when someone I love will be in the same situation as my little boy cat. But they will have to linger and suffer and I will be put through a lot of emotional pain. I wish that the option would be available. It would be so much more dignified to end it all when one is ready in a painless serene way.

It is not an easy decision, nor should it be, but it would be the right decision made with love and caring.

I want to live in the times of Soylent Green. Remember that old book? People elected to go get killed and turned into food.

I have stayed out of this debate because it is something that I really don't like talking or even thinking about. But an experience I had this weekend brought it home to me. Now I know that putting down a cat is not the same as a human but I wish that my passing could be as pain free and uncomplecated as my beloved little cat's was.

I wasn't expecting to put him down, but I brought him in to have his cast changed. He broke his leg about a month ago. His leg was infected and was necrotic. Heroic efforts might have let him live for a little longer, but for what? So he could suffer more and die anyway. I was convinced by what the vet said and the fact that he was almost 18 years old that he was not going to recover.

While I was still in the vets office, I called my best friend who is a crazy cat lady and loves animals more than anything else on earth. She said that it is a blessing to have that option. That when her mother had gangrene in an amputated leg she wished that she could have made a choice for euthanasia. Her mother refused any more surgery and died about a month later from sepsis.

There may come a time when someone I love will be in the same situation as my little boy cat. But they will have to linger and suffer and I will be put through a lot of emotional pain. I wish that the option would be available. It would be so much more dignified to end it all when one is ready in a painless serene way.

It is not an easy decision, nor should it be, but it would be the right decision made with love and caring.

I'm so sorry about your kitty. I have one who is nineteen, a boy also, and he is winding down. It's so hard and sad.

I'm so sorry about your kitty. I have one who is nineteen, a boy also, and he is winding down. It's so hard and sad.

Thank you, it was very hard and I am still crying about it. He was so beautiful.