In Tony Nicklinson's heroic suffering, I can't help but see the case for life

[ljtaylor]

It is harrowing to watch the anguish of a man who wants to end his life but cannot - yet his message somehow backfires

Comments

[metatrix]

First, I want to re-iterate that I wasn't actually stating my own opinion on euthanasia. I was just summarizing the main points that were brought up in an article that I read on euthanasia a long time ago. Personally, I'm undecided on the subject of euthanasia.

One thing my prof said in my medical ethics class which I think I agree with is that you can argue for legalizing physician-assisted suicide, but legalizing euthanasia is a wholly unnecessary legal risk, and going too far. If you legalize physician-assisted suicide, patients are still able to end their own life in a safe and dignified manner with medical help. But you have the added precaution of the patient being the one to 'pull the trigger'. This precaution is may seem insignificant on the surface, but it's actual hugely significant because:

- it avoids lawsuits from family members who will sue the doctor for wrongful death, saying the patient didn't really want to die
- it avoids the mental distress of the doctor needing to end the life
- it protects the doctor from criminal prosecution
- extra insurance that the patient really wants to die

In almost any circumstance, some kind of system can be rigged whereby the patient, no matter how disabled, can perform the final action that ends their life. Even if the patient is locked in and can't move, a system can be set-up whereby a morphine drip hooked up to a computer will be activated by the patient blinking his eyes in a specific pattern.

So, in that sense, I believe that between physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia, it is physician-assisted suicide that ultimately retains patient autonomy best (all the way until the very end), whereas euthanasia follows more in the old tradition of paternalism/beneficience ('it's too emotionally painful for the patient to pull the trigger, so as physicians we will take on the burden instead')

IDK if that made sense.