Author Topic: Montana Judge Considers Legalizing Assisted Suicide  (Read 1536 times)

Colossus_500

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Montana Judge Considers Legalizing Assisted Suicide
« on: October 14, 2008, 06:56:24 AM »
Montana Judge Considers Legalizing Assisted Suicide
citizenlink.org
 
A district judge in Helena, Mont., is considering whether to allow doctors in the state to prescribe lethal doses of medication to terminally ill patients.

A lawsuit brought by a terminally ill Billings man, four Missoula doctors and a nonprofit group argues that mentally competent, terminally ill Montanans should be able to kill themselves, with help from their doctors.

Montana Assistant Attorney General Anthony Johnston disagreed.

"The laws governing the medical profession say the medical profession is to heal, not to kill," he told Montana's CBS affiliate.

Wesley J. Smith, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute and an attorney for the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, said the culture has become obsessed with death.

"Hopefully, the court will understand that it is a proper purpose of the state to protect everyone from self-destruction," he wrote on his blog.

— Jennifer Mesko

loco

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Re: Montana Judge Considers Legalizing Assisted Suicide
« Reply #1 on: October 14, 2008, 07:23:50 AM »
It's coming, gradually.  You better watch out.

"The notion that human life is sacred just because it is human life is medieval." - Peter Singer

"During the next 35 years, the traditional view of the sanctity of human life will collapse under pressure from scientific, technological, and demographic developments." - Peter Singer

Professor Peter Singer: Kill infants and those with disabilities
http://www.getbig.com/boards/index.php?topic=238266.msg3348214#msg3348214

Dos Equis

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Re: Montana Judge Considers Legalizing Assisted Suicide
« Reply #2 on: October 14, 2008, 11:00:09 AM »
Tough one for doctors.  Definitely a dangerous road.  I don't think there is a huge logical distinction between a doctor prescribing pain meds that will alleviate pain but also hasten death, and a doctor prescribing a lethal dose of medication that brings about the same result (pain relief and death) but faster.  The problem is once we start legalizing that kind of practice we are then a stone's throw from euthanizing the mentally ill, etc. 

Colossus_500

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Re: Montana Judge Considers Legalizing Assisted Suicide
« Reply #3 on: October 14, 2008, 01:45:23 PM »
Tough one for doctors.  Definitely a dangerous road.  I don't think there is a huge logical distinction between a doctor prescribing pain meds that will alleviate pain but also hasten death, and a doctor prescribing a lethal dose of medication that brings about the same result (pain relief and death) but faster.  The problem is once we start legalizing that kind of practice we are then a stone's throw from euthanizing the mentally ill, etc. 
Indeed!  Look at what legalized abortion has done.  Almost 90% of infants in the womb who are diagnosed with Down Syndrome are aborted.  That's freakin' outrageous!  >:(   Imagine what the percentage would be of the elderly and mentally disabled?  :'(

OzmO

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Re: Montana Judge Considers Legalizing Assisted Suicide
« Reply #4 on: October 14, 2008, 01:49:42 PM »
Indeed!  Look at what legalized abortion has done.  Almost 90% of infants in the womb who are diagnosed with Down Syndrome are aborted.  That's freakin' outrageous!  >:(   Imagine what the percentage would be of the elderly and mentally disabled?  :'(

I really doubt we'd see a society that kills off the mentally disabled even though making assisted suicide legal puts us a stones throw away from that.

Colossus_500

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Re: Montana Judge Considers Legalizing Assisted Suicide
« Reply #5 on: October 14, 2008, 02:10:20 PM »
I really doubt we'd see a society that kills off the mentally disabled even though making assisted suicide legal puts us a stones throw away from that.
Yep.  Is sure does.  Will have to stay informed on this case.

Dos Equis

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Re: Montana Judge Considers Legalizing Assisted Suicide
« Reply #6 on: October 14, 2008, 02:32:55 PM »
I really doubt we'd see a society that kills off the mentally disabled even though making assisted suicide legal puts us a stones throw away from that.

For that to happen we'd first need some crazy groundwork in place, like a person who advocates killing the disabled in charge of an ethics department at an Ivy League school. 

The ChemistV2

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Re: Montana Judge Considers Legalizing Assisted Suicide
« Reply #7 on: October 14, 2008, 02:37:26 PM »
I think someone who is legitamately suffering from a painful, terminal illness should have the right to seek assisted suicide. Not everyone wants to shoot themselves and have their loved ones find them with their brains blown out on the floor. I wouldn't want to die in a hospital. semi consious wasted away to a skeleton. I'd like to go out when and how I chose.

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Re: Montana Judge Considers Legalizing Assisted Suicide
« Reply #8 on: October 14, 2008, 03:21:03 PM »