Washington State: Physician-Assisted Suicide Bill Being Considered (user search)
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  Washington State: Physician-Assisted Suicide Bill Being Considered (search mode)
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Poll
Question: Would you vote for this bill?
#1
Democrat -Aye
 
#2
Democrat -Nay
 
#3
Republican -Aye
 
#4
Republican -Nay
 
#5
independent/third party -Aye
 
#6
independent/third party -Nay
 
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Partisan results

Total Voters: 14

Author Topic: Washington State: Physician-Assisted Suicide Bill Being Considered  (Read 1778 times)
Emsworth
Junior Chimp
*****
Posts: 9,054


« on: January 26, 2006, 06:45:06 PM »

Aye. I believe that every person has a right to life, but not an obligation to live. The state has no business telling people whether they should or should not commit suicide.
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Emsworth
Junior Chimp
*****
Posts: 9,054


« Reply #1 on: January 26, 2006, 08:58:58 PM »


I'd rather err on the side of caution in situations like this.  When people can give consent to others to end their life that scares me.  Consider this hypothetical:

A certified medical doctor loses 200 grand on the Super Bowl.  He can't pay his bookie, so he decided to kill him.  Instead of just murdering him, however, he locks the bookie and his family in a room and threatens his families' life if he fails to sign a waiver to certify his murder.

The next day, the doctor proclaims the patient terminally ill, and the murderer kills the bookie legally.

--------

I realize all of this is EXTREMELY unlikely, but I'd rather not mess with issues like this.
Well, the Oregon legislature has wisely found a way around this problem. Under the assisted-suicide law, doctors are not allowed to directly participate in the killing of their patients. Rather, they can only write prescriptions: the patients must administer the drugs themselves.
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Emsworth
Junior Chimp
*****
Posts: 9,054


« Reply #2 on: January 26, 2006, 09:27:46 PM »

Force the patient to take the pill with a gun to his head, or his child's.
That could happen even without a physician-assisted suicide bill having been passed.
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Emsworth
Junior Chimp
*****
Posts: 9,054


« Reply #3 on: January 26, 2006, 09:33:33 PM »

Of course, but this bill makes it easier for a physian to do so, and enhances its legality.
The bill places an extraordinary number of safeguards: the request for the physician's assistance must be put in writing; at least two people must witness this request; two doctors must confirm the diagnosis.

A lot of things can make it easier, in some remote and highly implausible way, for physicians to kill their patients. Does that justify forcing terminally ill patients to drag out their painful lives longer than they wish?
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