Assisted Suicide/Euthanasia - what are your opinions?

I didn't watch the programme, either. But I have sat at the bedside of patients that were breathing their last, and it was always a peaceful death, without the aid of euthanasia. Morphine often helps to assist that journey, and we all know that,

This is a difficult subject, but I think legalising euthanasia would most certainly lead to the abuse of it. The Abortion act  has lead to a quarter of a million babies being killed every year in the UK.  I don't think it can ever be right for us to end life deliberately, but I can understand why others feel differently.

It's a choice I would take. It's not just the person suffering that has to deal with the agony and the hopelessness, it's the wife/husband, children, relatives and friends also.  It is legalised cruelty to let people suffer, in my humble opinion. As long as the sufferer is lucid and can make a decision that everyone who loves him/her can understand and support then it should be up to him/her, not a doctor, consultant or lawyer. And certainly not religion, whatever that is.

We all make choices in life, some difficult, some easy. No matter which drugs are available, no matter which drugs work, an existence watching people that love you despairing at your situation is surely unsatisfactory, to put it mildly.

I am me, my life is mine, if I want to end it because that's my best choice who on this earth has the right to deny me? No-one morally, but plenty legally. The law is an ass. It's high time it changed.

This is a tough question.  On paper, it seems like the right thing to do.  But so does communism.  There's a lot "on paper" that seems right, but when you get down to brass tacks, it turns out to be wrong.  That's how I feel about assisted suicide.  Anyone has the freedom and opportunity to take their own life at any time, and many have chosen this route.  One of the previous owners of the house my husband grew up in hung himself in the barn due to a diagnosis of cancer.  But he left a lot of pain in his wake among his loved ones.

Assisted suicide would be open to a whole host of abuses, particularly like the ones you mentioned Ron.  I also harbor strong religious beliefs about this, that it's only God who should open that door, and in His time.  But it's also a gut feeling I have that it's wrong.  And IMHO, comparing putting a suffering animal out of its misery to assisted suicide of a human being is comparing apples and oranges, there is no comparison.  My vote is NO.

Same to you, Andy!! 

I am wih Andy and Lyn G on this one.I sometimes think it is selfish to want to keep someone we love here with us when it is there wish to go peacfully and with a sense of dignity.

I understand where Ruth is comming from,having been raised that God is the one to make that choice,yet,until it hits home with you and those you love, it is a whole other world.

I am against assisting a human to die. If God wanted them to go he would take them. It is not our decision. There are lessons to learn in our suffering that we do not have knowledge of yet. And won't until we pass through the veil! It may sound harsh but God gave us the people around us for comfort and love. Maybe he is using that person to help teach lessons to those around him/her. He also wants us to turn to him to ask for help. We cannot expect it if we don't ask.

Putting an animal down is different. God gave us power over all the creatures of the earth.  Animals cannot help each other the same way humans can. They need us to love them, comfort them and when the time is necessary to end their suffering. Animals do not have the capability of praying to God for the help.