ωωEuthanasia...

I believe in it. Honestly if I got in a major car crash and suffered heavy brain damage and had to live the rest of my life mentally and physically retarded, I'd rather die. No offense to people who may know people who are retarded or anything, but that's something I believe is worse than death and I wouldn't want myself or any of my kids (once I have some) to have to go through that. What fun is life if you can't go out and enjoy it?

Of course you'd have to have consent of the patient. Something like a DNR could work that they could sign in case anything would happen, that way if they suffer heavy brain damage and wouldn't be able to communicate, family members and doctors would know what they want done for them.

My Aunt's mother is hooked up to life support in their own home (the hospital basically refused to take care of her anymore). It's been probably about a year and a half to two years that she's been hooked up to it. That just seems a little too much to me and I definitely wouldn't want that to happen to me.

You actually stated you don't want to live in a vegetative state of mind but what about those who never said they wanted someone to pull the plug on them? Should family members do it without their consent?

That's the problem. But the same could be said about putting them on life support. That's why things like DNR's were created, which is what I was saying. Give the option for everyone to sign a slip similar to a DNR stating they would want a mercy death should anything life changing (in a bad way) happen to them.

But yes, if the victim was unable to say anything I believe the family members should have the say, much like they have the say on whether the life support plug is pulled or not. It may sound harsh, but if one of your parents or somebody very close to you had a life changing event, such as my example of a brain damaging car crash, and it completely destroyed their life for the worst, would you want them to go through all of that? You might think "well at least they're alive," but honestly, who would want a life like that? Being stuck in home all the time having to be fed by others, helped with going to the bathroom/being changed/just about any other simple task that people go through everyday. It would literally be living the life of a dog. The only difference is the dog is at least able to enjoy that life.

I'm in no way saying Euthanasia is an option all the time. Only when faced with long-term side effects do I believe it is an option. For example, simply being shot in the leg wouldn't be a good reason since that heals over a small amount of time. But if you had cancer and had the choice of death or losing both of your legs and arms, that'd be different and would be an excuse since it has a long term effect.

Who is to declare mercy? Here is a scenario (true story). My grandmother didn't want anyone to spare her life, she didn't want anyone to put her on a life support system, she preferred to pass away at home. My mother agreed to grant her those wishes whereas, my aunts/uncles was against it. They blame my mother for her death because if she had given her the chance to live on a life support system perhaps she would still be alive. The guilt is eating my mother alive because now my mother is saying "why did I listen to her (my grandmother), she was my mother and I let her die without taking her life into consideration." Was that fair to her other children? The siblings that didn't want their mother to die, the siblings that wanted her to survive by any means necessary. Was that a selfish request on my grandmother's behalf? Not taking her children into consideration. Was that a selfish reaction on my mother's behalf? Not taking her siblings emotions toward their mother into consideration? Who would suffer the most if there are unwilling family members who aren't ready to let the person go?

Well your grandmother got what she wanted, right? If she was put on life support and somehow made it out alive (which, btw, only 5% outside of hospitals and 15% inside of hospitals do), she wouldn't have received what she asked. Your mother did the right thing because it's what your grandmother wanted. Your uncle/aunt are the arrogant ones who couldn't even respect their mother's only wish on her death bed. It isn't up to anybody but themselves on whether they want life support or not, especially if they come out and say they don't want put on life support, and it's the least someone could do to respect those wishes. I'd be pissed if I told my family members that, if anything should happen to me, never put me on life support, and they did anyways. It all comes back to respecting the wishes of others. It's her life, not theirs.

One reason why it might be a good idea to put a person on life support instead of letting them die straight away is the scientist might have found out a new medicine which can be used to cure that person's illness. I can't imagine how much guilt a person would feel if something like that happens and its already too late.

Also Miracles! Ok fine, some people might not believe in it, but lets just say there's lot of unexplained things in this world. You never know what can happen.