Is there such a thing as a 'right to die'?
by ALL
Released October 12, 2005
Let's say a close friend of yours is really sick. According to doctors and specialists, your friend has about a 20% chance of living through the next year. Your friend is in incredible pain around the clock. Now, what if your friend was so desperate and had lost so much hope that he wanted to die? What if your friend asked you to help him die? What would you do? Would you help relieve your friend's pain by helping to kill him?
The idea of killing a close friend or family member sounds ridiculous, but it happens. It's called assisted suicide, or euthanasia. And it's legal in one state (Oregon), but there are cases reported from all over the country.
A 21-year-old college student, who had been paralyzed by a spinal infection, wanted to die so badly that he took the hospital to court for the right to leave. He won the court battle, was released from the hospital, and was dead just a few hours later. Jack Kevorkian gave him a lethal injection.
In 1996, a 58-year-old man in New York fed his wife a handful of sleeping pills mixed with pudding and vodka, placed a plastic bag over her head, and watched her die. She had a form of Lou Gehrig's disease. The man was eventually convicted of second-degree manslaughter and was ordered to spend two weeks in jail.
A 26-year-old quadriplegic man was given a lethal injection in California. Jack Kevorkian dropped off the man's body at a hospital in Michigan.
And these are just a few. There are hundreds of cases just like these three that have been reported in the last couple of years. Assisted suicide backers hope you are no longer shocked. If that is indeed the case, the case will be made that assisted suicide is not a crime - it is a constitutional right. The groundwork has already been set.
by ALL
Released October 12, 2005
Let's say a close friend of yours is really sick. According to doctors and specialists, your friend has about a 20% chance of living through the next year. Your friend is in incredible pain around the clock. Now, what if your friend was so desperate and had lost so much hope that he wanted to die? What if your friend asked you to help him die? What would you do? Would you help relieve your friend's pain by helping to kill him?
The idea of killing a close friend or family member sounds ridiculous, but it happens. It's called assisted suicide, or euthanasia. And it's legal in one state (Oregon), but there are cases reported from all over the country.
A 21-year-old college student, who had been paralyzed by a spinal infection, wanted to die so badly that he took the hospital to court for the right to leave. He won the court battle, was released from the hospital, and was dead just a few hours later. Jack Kevorkian gave him a lethal injection.
In 1996, a 58-year-old man in New York fed his wife a handful of sleeping pills mixed with pudding and vodka, placed a plastic bag over her head, and watched her die. She had a form of Lou Gehrig's disease. The man was eventually convicted of second-degree manslaughter and was ordered to spend two weeks in jail.
A 26-year-old quadriplegic man was given a lethal injection in California. Jack Kevorkian dropped off the man's body at a hospital in Michigan.
And these are just a few. There are hundreds of cases just like these three that have been reported in the last couple of years. Assisted suicide backers hope you are no longer shocked. If that is indeed the case, the case will be made that assisted suicide is not a crime - it is a constitutional right. The groundwork has already been set.