In my state, we voted to allow physician assisted suicide. Two doctors need to verify that you have less than six months to live and are in sound mind, and you need to administer the medication yourself. Nay-sayers were screaming that doctors and fed-up family members would practically be forcing it down people's throats, but I think that's absolutely ridiculous, and has yet to have happened even once.

I do believe that individuals have the right to die rather than face drawn-out deaths in hospitals, doped up and suffering. If the option is to die in agony and/or in a drug-haze after months and months of suffering, or to die peacefully with a clear mind, for me, the choice is obvious. I don't believe anyone has the right to force me to suffer needlessly and then die without any dignity. (Ironically, it has been assumed for countless years that dogs and cats have the right to a quick death, but humans somehow did not, even though the cat can't choose and the human can).

It should be the right of any person to decide when they have had enough pain. Death is not necessarily something to avoid at any and all costs, and the person whose life is in question is the only one really qualified to make that decision. They should be offered as much counseling and information as they need, and as much support as possible, but in the end, it should be their choice.

We don't generally tell people how they should live or treat their body during life, and yet for some reason, we feel like we have the right to tell people how and when to die. Just bizarre.

I believe we have the right to die with dignity and not cause suffering to ourself, or to others around us watching us die from a terminal illness that can never be cured. I believe that if there is no hope for living a halfway normal life in the final days and all you are going to be faced with is pain and suffering, you should be allowed to make that choice. I think the key is that you should make this decision before you become terminally ill. There may always be a question of whether a person is in their right mind when they made the decision. If you decide while you are healthy that you do not want to continue living at some point when the pain and suffering is too hard to bear, there is no question about your mental state at the time.

Loved ones can also influence whether a person hangs on because they don't want them to leave. Loved ones should realize when a person is suffering they should be allowed to go peacefully and not live with continued pain and doped up on pain medications just to stay alive for others. I do know someone who took pills to end her life when it got too hard for her to bear. She was purposely left alone with medication available, so she made her own decision when she could no longer bear the pain. She only had a couple of weeks left at the time and she had already endured so much, that when the time came she finally made her choice to go.

I have already told my children that if I am diagnosed with a terminal illness I want to be allowed to go when I can no longer endure the pain and suffering. I do not want to watch the pain in my children’s eyes as they watch me suffer and die. I do not want to hold on hoping for a miracle cure that never comes. If I cannot function and I am suffering, let me go. Take me if you have to. The problem with doing it yourself is that you could do more damage than good if you don’t take the right amount of medication. It is better to have assisted suicide than the risk of making yourself sicker and doing even more damage to yourself.

One of the questions in my psych class was should anorexics be allowed to die. The conclusion most of us reached is if the person has been “saved” from dying five or six times, had therapy, have made the decision to not be “saved” when they were in their right mind, that they should be allowed to die through a physician assisted suicide or not being resuscitated, if that is their choice.

I do want to say that I don’t believe that we should just have a right to have physician assisted suicide just because we are depressed or feel that it’s what we want at that particular moment. The illness should be terminal or no longer bearable to the person making the choice, and intense therapy should be done before any decision is made. In the case of an accident, I don’t believe a person should have to live as a vegetable just to keep the family from suffering a loss. If there is no hope, I believe they should be allowed to go. I don’t believe in starving them as was done in that one case years ago. Have mercy on them. Let them go.

I believe everyone should have the right to live and the right to die. My mother had a stroke, was paralyzed on one side, couldn’t take care of her personal needs, couldn’t talk and was in pain. After 2 ½ years, she was still alive and in a nursing home. Have you ever visited a nursing home? You don’t want to. We searched to find the best one in town for my mom and I still don’t feel it was good enough. The last six months she would barely open her eyes and couldn’t even eat on her own. I know she wanted to die, and begged me, but of course I couldn’t do anything. It was horrible.

If I become in a way that I am so sick that I won’t get better and I feel I want to end it, I feel I should be able to do it. We have the decency as humans to be able to let our pets out of their misery when they are sick and in pain, but we don’t have the decency to be able to it for ourselves. Something is just not right with that.

I do believe that everyone has a right to die. If I knew that I had a terminal illness and did not have long to live, I would want to die before I became a hardship to my family. Obviously my health would deteriorate and my family would at some point have to help take care of me. I know that they would do this without giving it a second thought, but I would not want them to have to take care of me in a situation like that.

If you know you are going to die anyway, what harm is there in it happening a few months earlier. This would allow my family and friends to grieve and get back into their normal daily routines quicker. The more drawn out it is, the harder it is on everyone involved.

I usually support physician-assisted suicide.
Physician-assisted suicide or medical assisted suicide is legal in medical profession.
There is no harm in it as because it helps the suffers.

Disclaimer: This is my personal opinion and should not be taken in any sort of way as professional advice, or advice at all.

I don't believe in suicide period. However, I do believe in peoples' rights to decide for themselves. There is one thing I just simply can't understand about some of these things. If someone wants to kill his or herself, why do they need a doctor to do it for them? Because of insurance reasons? I hate to say, but anyone can get enough pain pills on the street if the were really suffering that bad to do themselves in. If I want to kill myself, I am not going to let my doctor not helping me stand in my way.

My mother had tried to kill herself 3 times. Of course, she has mental problems and not a terminal illness. I have issues with suicide. I think it's a very selfish act and wrong. However, if someone has a medical condition that is causing them so much unbearable pain, I can understand that. It should be their right to do what they want. It's their body... of course if they are in their correct mind.

People should have the right to die instead of suffer. If you get the right Doctor he will make sure you are drugged up enough and let you slip out peacefully without your other meds. If it was me I would get the necessary drugs and say goodbye to the World.