is there a duty to die?

[PSUFAN]

Harrison Bergeron, your thoughts?

[BSmack]

Perhaps the old bird can show others the way through her own example.

[Van]

Two things, there...

-If they're senile and demented enough to "need" to die, they're not in the position of being able to make such a decision for themselves. After all, they're senile and demented.

-Baroness Warnock is just about the coolest name, ever.

[indyfrisco]

I visit my wife's grandma regularly who has Alzheimers. She always says how she wants to die. Then 2 minutes later she forgot she said it. Sad. While this article sounds callous, there is some validity to it. I wouldn't be able to "assist", but I can see how some argue it is worthwhile.

[smackaholic]

This should be a decision left to the person themselves through a living will. They should make the decision concerning who will decide when their ticket gets punched. Given this ability, I would give the OK to have someone pull the plug on me.

I'd just ask that they get me good and drunk and buy me some decent looking hookers for the send off.

[Shoalzie]

It's very hard to watch someone slowly die versus someone dying suddenly. The sudden death is shocking and sad but I don't know if there is anything harder than watch someone being eaten alive by a disease. When my grandfather passed away more than 2 years ago, his actual death was more of a relief for us than watching him break down before our eyes. There's a difference between kept alive and actually living. Modern medicine sometimes interferes with the natural course of life. If I came down with terminal disease and the countdown was on, I wouldn't want to put my family through hell and having to watch me wither away. I'm not anti-euthanasia by any means but as long as the person gave permission when they were of sound mind and body to have the family or the doctors pull the plug when the time came, they should be able to do it. It's almost selfish to keep someone alive just because you can't bear to part with them when in all honesty, that person is no longer there. I think everyone should have the right to die with dignity. There should be a humane way to end someone's life when it appears to be all but over.

[Cuda]

PENSIONERS with dementia

Anyone with dementia is, by definition, incompetent to make their own decisions.

You want the state to be able to make the decision for them and off them?