Would you support the legalisation of euthanasia?

If I was terminally ill, I would rather kill myself, and make it quick, than go through a long painful and slow death

so you're saying that people right now who are currently enduring the most heinously painful diseases/conditions ought to continue that kind of torturing living simply because you think there will be certain families who are unbelievably (the right word to use here) selfsh

And anyone disabled has no right to be able to commit suicide simply because they aren't able bodied enough to do so alone.

The prevalence of abuse of vulnerable groups (elderly (4%) or disabled (11% of women, 7% of men with a long-term illness or disability)).

This covers a huge number of people and it simply isn't good enough to dismiss the very real risk to these people of being manipulated or coerced into ending their life early.

I think I addressed a solution to all those problems in my post with reference to rigorous safeguarding and multiple-stage applications that are spread over a relatively long time to ensure that a patient is of sound mind and to ensure that they are an appropriate candidate for euthanasia.

I think that the person should also be above a certain age.

I am opposed.

I think it would be the slippery slope to some kind of Orwellian nightmare. It might start with people with terminal illnesses who had perhaps a few weeks to live, but then would grow to include others who would live for months if not years, I expect. The experience of the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland seems to bear this out.

I think there would be people who would be put under pressure to make the decision from money grabbing relatives, or just uncaring ones, or even because of their poor living conditions such as in a retirement/nursing home.

Ah but the problem there is that you create a lengthy system that has two big flaws.

1. Its convoluted. You put more stress (who are in the worst point in their lives) on the client by making them jump through a billion hoops.

2. What if a persons condition deterorates to the point they can not communicate effectively what they wish. Thier mind may well be absolutely fine but the body may have degraded to such a point they cant tell you without severe interpretation. they still want to die but cant tell anyone.

As from looking at the precedent set by other countries who have started down this path a lot of them have now gone further

1. It would have to be regulated in a rigorous way, though. Otherwise we end up in the situation others have described where people can gain clearance for euthanasia at the snap of their fingers. If this isn't properly regulated, it's something that could descend into something very questionable.

2) If I were in control of the legislation, I would say that if one has requested euthanasia but during the application process their health deteriorates to a stage where they cannot confirm that euthanasia is what they still want, I would use the initial request as justified reason to go ahead. If they haven't even requested euthanasia in the first place, then we're looking at a different issue altogether. There has been some interesting research over the last few years that has managed to use brain pulses as a way of communication for those in conditions where they cannot communicate properly, if at all. These pulses flare up when patients hear questions. There's meant to be substantial evidence that this is a sufficient means of communication for the patient to express what they want.

You should probably look into the opinions of disabled people on assisted suicide before speaking for them: "the majority of disabled people – including three-quarters (72%) of young disabled people – are concerned about moves to legalise assisted suicide. ".

There is a significant mismatch between the feelings of disabled people and those of non-disabled people around changes to the law. Presenting the pro-assisted suicide arguments as if you are lobbying on behalf of disabled people is hugely offensive.
Many
disabled
people
have
tried
to get
their
voices heard. (if you only read one of these links I'd recommend this last). Please don't attempt to speak over them.

My personal view is summed up in one of the links above
"We would not give-up on a suicidal person in otherwise good health, we should not give up on a terminally ill or disabled person seeking an assisted death."

And that's speaking as someone who is very likely to be assisting my partner to end his life at some point. He needs protection from the law far more than I ever will. I follow cases of assisted suicide - I've yet to see any convictions of family who are truly acting in the best interests of their loved ones. I'm satisfied that if I'm ever in this position it is RIGHT that the authorities investigate my actions.