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The Right to Die...
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Diane Pretty
Do you believe this is the right judgment?
And as Diane Pretty says she has had her rights removed, can anyone tell me <STRONG>what</STRONG> rights she means...
Do you believe this is the right judgment?
And as Diane Pretty says she has had her rights removed, can anyone tell me <STRONG>what</STRONG> rights she means...
0
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I hope that helps x
Suicide is totally legal in this country, as is refusing treatment...Unfortunately she needs her husband to off her as she cant do it herself.
Personally I think its irrelevent...If she wanted to die badly enough then he would have killed her and consequences be damned. I doubt if he would even see any prison time.
Surely it is her ILLNESS which has taken these away. I'm sure that she didn't chose to be paralysed.
Nothing stopped her comitting suicide whilst she was capable...
What she was asking was for her husband to have the right to kill her. Nothing to do with <STRONG>her</STRONG>rights at all.
If society starts dictating which lives are worth living, and which are not, then we are in big trouble.
Ok so it is the right for her husband to help her die, but if she is physically unable to do the job herself then surely it is HER right to be able to LEAGALLY chose someone to help her die, ie. her husband. And just for the record, referring to Balddog, im pretty sure that suicide is ILLEGAL, coz it's still seen as a from of murder, i could be wrong tho, -ne experts?
Its not been a crime since 1961.
No. What they were asking for is the right to kill someone and that opens a whole new can of worms.
Diane Pretty has motor neurone disease, this isn't a sudden attack, it is degenerative and the effects are well known. She could have topped herself ages ago. But she chose not to. Her choice.
If her husband now wants to kill her, there is nothing to stop that from happening. His choice. He might be prosecuted, he might not.
I understand her position, and in the same lace I would probably have wanted the same thing. Doesn't make it right.
But if two people make a suicide pact and one survives, that person may be convicted of murder, quite mad really.
[ 01-05-2002: Message edited by: * k-t * ]
However, in the eyes of the law euthenasia is murder. If you did it, then chances are you would get a fairly light sentence, as the judge and jury would take it all into account. However you would still be found guilty of murder, wether the victim permitted it or not.
I dont know if it is the right decision, I think it probably isnt. But Im sitting on the fence. If she has made it perfectly clear she wants her husband to kill her, because she no longer wants to live, then she should be able to make that choice. Although, it does open a huge can of worms, in that suddenly any rich old relatives of people would become deeply suicidal.