Do people have a right to die?

Topic:
Policy Debates

24 Contributors
in this discussion.

Yes
92% of users

  • If humane euthanasia is an option for animals who cannot voice their suffering, it shouldn't be forbidden for human beings.

    I truly believe that physician-assisted suicide should be allowed in terminal cases. There is no reason people should have to suffer through the end of their lives to satiate the moral standards of others. I might sway on this opinion if adequate pain-management were common. But, it is well-documented that terminally ill patients are under-managed.

    Yes ExoticCurt

  • I think that people should be allowed to choose whether they live or die, because it is their own life to do with as they please.

    I believe that people should be able to decide when they want their life to end. As long as they do not attempt to take other people to the grave with them, then what they do with their own lives should be their own concern. People only believe that it is wrong because of religion, and not everyone is religious.

    Yes IoweAim

  • It should be carefully thought over.

    You have the right to control the way you die, but rash action in a situation like this is never good. These decisions can have a huge impact on the lives of those around you. It is important to seek the input of your family before you make that decision.

    Yes Anonymous

  • I believe a person has an individual right to die, as long as he does not kill someone else in the process.

    As human beings, we are individuals with our own individual thoughts, desires, actions and beliefs. I believe all humans have the right to do whatever they want to themselves, as long as they do not physically harm someone else or their property while doing so.

    Yes lacis48

  • I believe people have the right to die, because it's their body and they should be able to decide.

    Women have the right to abortion, because it's their body. Choosing to die goes along the same lines. It's our body, so we should be able to decide that as well.

    Yes darcyska

  • I believe I should have the right to die....I know I don't ...but once upon life women where not even able to vote

    I did not ask to bring here, my entity , my spirit was brought here by a force not of my own...not once did it ask if was my desire to subject to the ache and pain of being human in an inhuman world....after years of fighting for my exhistance and right to be what I feel is a productive life force that made a diffence..I have come to realize that being a productive life force serves not me but the powers that be and that my soul, life force and person has been put on this earth to serve one other than myself with no regard for the loss, degriation and truth that my exhistance will only cause me pain...but unless i am terminally ill and obviously no use as a human entity I have no right to claim dignity in allowing myself to sleep. I hold on for the shame and degridation to those who claim me as their own ....but in my heart I crave and have the desire to be given permission to walk away and not come back to a life that has nothing to offer my cold lonley bones...but then again...it is like I am cattle...I have a stock worth that belongs to all those who have never invested in me the tiem and acknowledgement that I have the right to die.

    Yes Anonymous

  • Yes, because if people are terminally ill, they should have the right to end their life.

    People who are terminally ill should have the right to end their life. They shouldn't have to endlessly suffer. I know if I were in that situation, I wouldn't want to have to force my family to watch me suffer. And I don't think that others in this situation should be denied this choice.

    Yes R4v4g3rJohn

  • No, people should not be granted a general right to die. It's a notion that could lead to needless and tragic deaths. A highly regulated form of assisted suicide for the terminally ill may be a legitimate exception.

    It is one thing to say, as a general proposition, that people should own their own lives. It is quite another to say that they have a general right to die. The first has the connotation of referencing their right to choose their own lifestyle. The second, while overlapping with the first, creates a risk of state indifference to people's rash decisions to end their lives in situations where social and medical support could change their minds. This even applies to the ill. Although in the case of the truly terminally ill, a careful and highly regulated option for assisted suicide may make sense. In that case, suffering is often acute, and death is imminent anyhow. When their pain has been alleviated as best it can and their agony persists, they should probably have some options here. But most cases are not like theirs.

    Yes M4I4cFeIine

  • Yes, the right to life is the right to die.

    The Supreme Court has ruled that compulsory speech violates the First Amendment right to free speech. Similarly, forcing someone to live ironically violates their right to live. In other words, the right to life is inherently the right to die.

    Yes 5h4bbyCorr

  • I think people have the right to die.

    I do agree that people have the right to die, but not a healthy person. There are many people who are suffering in this world and are bedridden and in pain. These people should have the right to die if they choose to. It should be allowed. When you pull the plug on a person on life support that is a choice so why not for a person who chooses to die?

    Yes dadude913

  • All humans have a personal right to make the decision to die.

    Every living being is the master of their own existence. As such, no person should ever be compelled to live in any state that is unbearable for them personally. For example, those who are suffering from extremely painful and life threatening illnesses should be able to select the time of their demise. No government, religion or creed should be permitted to interfere with this ultimate personal decision.

    Yes 54IvIaugh

  • People should have the right to die because if they are in extreme pain and know they are going to die anyway it should be dignified and painless.

    I believe that people do have the right to die because if they are in extreme pain and know they are going to die soon it should be their choice to die in a dignified manner, quickly and pain-free. That is all Dr. Kervorkian was trying to accomplish with his methods in my opinion.

    Yes MycCra2ii

  • People do have the right to die as it's personal and the government should not interfere.

    People do have the right to die as it's personal and the government should not interfere. People have to suffer now until their death happens naturally. Sometimes they choose to end their own life, but it isn't always successful because they don't know how or can't do it due to their illness. If someone else helps them, it might be murder. People deserve dignity and autonomy.

    Yes H0bi3Invader

  • What a person chooses to do with their life should be their right, assuming they do not harm others in the process.

    Any adult person should have the right to live, or not live, their own life as they choose as long as the choices they make do not harm others. For example, attempts at suicide should not be a punishable offense since a person has the authority over their own lives.

    Yes Wynn354

  • I believe that if a person is really ill they should have the right to terminate their life if they so choose too.

    If a person that is very ill wants to end their suffering then why should any one else be able to tell that person what to do. Every person in the world has the right to do with his or her body as they seem fit I believe. I do believe that if the person is healthy they should not do this but get help instead but if you are very ill or terminally ill you should have the right to die.

    Yes 5h4rkEmar

  • A person has a right to choose to continue their life or not.

    I am a worker with Hospice, and part of my job includes watching people waste away from illness for extended periods of time. If a person is of sound mind, knows they will die, and that it will be a slow, long decline, why should they not be allowed to make that choice? It is a chance for them to die with some dignity, rather than waste away in front of loved ones.

    Yes EIIioChatty

  • I believe people have the right to die because they are the ones who should be in control of their lives.

    DNR. We all know what that is. Do Not Resuscitate, which simply means not to bring that person back to life. We all should be able to choose whether we want to live or die. It is our body that we can control. No one else should be in charge of our own body. Just us and only us.

    Yes R4PTyba

  • People should have every right to choose whether they want to continue to live.

    Human beings should be able to make decisions regarding their own lives without any interference from the government. This includes the choice to die. When an individual is coherent and able to make logical decisions, then no one should be able to stop them from dying, if that is their choice. I believe this should be the case even for people who are healthy. As long as there are no fraudulent or criminal activities involved, and as long as they have put their affairs in order, then we should be able to die whenever and however we choose.

    Yes TownNoam

  • I believe that people have a right to die because what they do with their own body is their business.

    I believe people have the right to die as long as they are coherent adults at the time the decision is made. Choosing to die rather than to waste away from disease or other health complications is their right. Additionally, I do not believe that suicide should be a hindrance to the collection of insurance or other inheritable items. In American society we punish people for many crimes that either hurt other people or could hurt other people. Choosing to die does not cause injury to anyone but the individual choosing to die, therefore it should not be punishable or illegal.

    Yes VampireShu

  • People should be able to decide for themselves if they want to die.

    People have a right to die. If they make a conscious, coherent decision to die; then they should be able to die. Many people live in excruciating pain and have terminal diseases. They should have the right to decide if they want to leave this world. There need to be guidelines that state the person is making the choice of their own free will. However, it is the person's life. If they are willing to end it; they should be allowed that right. No one should have control over someone else's right to life.

    Yes VasilBuddy

  • I believe people have the right to die because no government or individual should make a decision or law preventing the right to die.

    I believe people have the right to die because no government or individual should make a decision or law preventing the right to die. When an individual who has a terminal illness they should have the right to end their life which would cease any continued suffering and would end the financial waste of keeping that person alive. Government should be forbidden to make any laws preventing a sane citizen from making that decision because once a law is enacted that controls our body what future laws may people face that would prevent them from doing other things to their body such as piercings, weight loss surgeries and other physical improvements.

    Yes 53r3n3Piers

  • I definitely believe humans beings have the right to die, just as they have the right to choose how they live.

    I don't really understand the notion of preventing a person from taking their own life, or seeking help if they cannot carry out the decision themselves, other than the fear of individuals using this as a means to commit murder. To me it is hypocritical to say that people have the right to live as they wish so long as they don't physically hurt others, have the right to bare children, to exploit other humans for money, but that if they no longer want to exist in this world that they can't choose when and how they exit it. Not only would allowing this save money on taxes, and free up hospital rooms and staff (in the case of those on life support, or with terminal diseases), but I think it would also help Westerners deal with the inevitability of death, and thus live better.

    Yes XglossyWynd
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No
8% of users

  • Either live and hurt yourself, or end yourself by hurting so many people who love you. Face this pain.

    This is life, not everything is easy, that doesn't mean you have to kill yourself. Patience is what everyone needs to learn. Even if you're in so much pain, it is as same as a child who wants to suicide, because he is living in a house without a tv. I know that its the person's life and his\her business, but there are some things you have to do according to the insights of life. Killing yourself will hurt your loved ones. Their total pain will more than triple of yours. You can still stay optimistic, while suffering. I'm a Muslim, according to my religion, the main reason why God gives illnessess and disorders to people, so that He can test our patience.

    No Anonymous

  • No, because their death has been arranged by a higher power.

    Healthy people die unexpectedly. Sick people live indefinitely. No one can judge when it is appropriate for another to die. One cannot judge his own appropriate time of death either. Death comes, whether you like it or not, so giving up before it is time is sinful.

    No babykoi3
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