[A7C3D5]

I lost two friends to ALS within the span of a year. Barring huge advances in treating this, which I don't see happening anytime soon, I fully plan to take the easier way out should it ever happen to me. Horrific doesn't even begin to describe it.

Medically assisted suicide should be a federal right. It's abhorrently shameful that we wouldn't allow a dog to die this way, yet somehow it's acceptable to watch a parent or spouse to go through this with NO HOPE of recovery. It makes me so angry.

[gedy]

I don't disagree per se, but I don't see why federal right is so important. We have US states that allow it, so one can relocate to states where people have voted for it if that's what they want.

Federal power getting involved could also just as easily block it from everyone.

[lotsofpulp]

> We have US states that allow it, so one can relocate to states where people have voted for it if that's what they want.

This is not easy for people of limited means, hence a federal law enshrining people’s civil rights over their own existence.

[MisterBastahrd]

Yeah, because relocating is just SO easy. Just ask all the women who are being forced into getting sepsis in their home states because abortion providers are afraid to treat them until they can prove that they have a life threatening illness.

[gedy]

And to my point, what if this was federally banned outright? Having state options is better IMHO than a no-compromise federal law one way or other on controversial issues.

[travisporter]

a federal right is harder to revoke. But I guess we’re playing for scraps now so I see your point

[patmorgan23]

Because the expense of relocating to another state and the stress/alienation of moving away from family and friends when you already require intense medical care is exactly what's needed.

[lend000]

My understanding is that doctor assisted suicide is legal under certain circumstances in California. My father watched his terminally ill friend pass this way, and apparently the person needs to be able to drink the poison themselves, which could be a problem for someone with a paralyzing disease like ALS. Whatever they gave him also didn't look particularly painless.

Even more important would be access to experimental/unapproved treatments for people with terminal illnesses. It's mind boggling that the government still outlaws dying people from trying new drugs to potentially save themselves and advance medicine because they might be dangerous.

[polski-g]

Euthanasia is legal in Oregon.

[RecycledEle]

You can always kill yourself.

Codifying medically assisted suicide into law would lead to abuses. I recall a case where family members and doctors held someone down who was fighting and forced lethal poison down the person's throat.

At the very least, we must have mandatory video recording and reporting of everything related to an assisted suicide and a mandatory life-without-parole sentence for those convicted of abusing legal euthanasia. We can not let doctors hold someone down and force poison down their throats then only get a few years in prison.

This is too much like the abortion debate where babies who survived attempted abortions were left to die instead of being cared for.

[at_a_remove]

>You can always kill yourself.

Mostly technically true. Once you're locked in, or paralyzed, it becomes quite more difficult.

But right now, most suicide methods that are available live in the less pleasant octants of the availability/suffering/uncertainty space. We used to have some fairly pleasant -- by comparison -- deaths available to us but they're getting harder to access, leaving the nasty route behind. Coal gas? Gone the way of Plath. Barbiturates? Out-moded now, know a vet? It isn't like you can nip down to the corner for some laudanum like back in the day.

[JumpCrisscross]

> recall a case where family members and doctors held someone down who was fighting and forced lethal poison down the person's throat

Shockingly, this is not a legitimate method of euthanasia. At the point that you’ve defrauded an autopsy to that degree, you could just have a doctor shoot them in the head and write heart attack on the death certificate.

[gautamcgoel]

> You can always kill yourself.

This is usually painful and unpleasant, and also difficult for people with serious impairments (like ALS, for example). Perhaps euthanasia should be legal and perhaps not, but in any case the quick and painless death available via injection is very different from the death you would experience from hanging yourself (for example). There are dignified deaths and undignified deaths, and I think we should be clear about this distinction.

[gorjusborg]

I call B.S. on this.

There is a word for killing someone against their will. It is murder. You may be surprised to find that murders still happen despite it being illegal pretty much everywhere.

We allow euthanaisa for pets because it is more humane than letting them suffer. For some reason that doesn't apply to people?

Anyway, I am guessing you have not witnessed someone you care about slowly die in agony. The theoretical abuse angle doesn't hold up to that reality.

[widowlark]

if you have ALS, and are bound to your wheelchair, how do you accomplish this?