I thought I was done with this thread, but when a rabbi tells someone to go kill himself, that conversation is just too much fun to leave early.
My older brother is a hospice doctor in KY so deals with this all the time. He tells me his patients' biggest fears are 1) Horrible pain and 2) Being abandoned.
Pain management has come a long way in the last 20 years (probably in the last 5 too). There is no reason for people to suffer terrible pain from cancer as long as it is managed properly.
I will concede that, properly managed, modern medicine can negate the majority of most patients' pain. I make a point here to repeat your phrasing of properly managed because I will never concede that medicine can cure everyone's pain, or even manage it to the point where it is unnoticeable to the patient. I myself have never experienced any physical pain that I was not sure was going to be gone in a certain period of time. I can't imagine what the mental effects are of having a constant pain that will only end when you die, even if that pain is a properly managed one.
This leads me into your next point--the second biggest fear of your brother's patients, that of abandonment. Your entire argument is based upon medicine being able to control physical pain to a suitable level--not once do you mention what science has to offer for patients suffering mental or emotional anguish. This suffering is equally as valid an argument for active euthanasia as any other type, and yet you ignore it completely.
I do not argue with your brother's information--I merely disagree on where to place the emphasis.
Suffering has a value, like the rest of life.
I apologize for the shamefully quoting this out of context, but we agree here.
Again, physicians are entrusted to heal people or relieve suffering. Killing them is a violation of that trust. Preacherman is right that eventually the doctor's ability to "euthanize" the patient becomes license to do so when the doctor thinks the patient has had enough. Do you really want your doctor making the decision it's your time? And with health care costs being a major concern it becomes in the state's interest to promote this kind of behavior.
I disagree--physicians are, in my mind, entrusted to end suffering. A small point in all other instances, but crucial here. You can also read my earlier post for why I disagree with Preacherman's argument.
No one will stop someone from putting a gun to his head and pulling the trigger. But the doctor doesnt need to be the one steadying his aim.
AE needs to be legalized to protect patients that have the willpower but not the physical mobility to end their lives. Not everyone in the last weeks of his life has the capability to push a button, pull a trigger, or swallow a pill.