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Jan 03, 2010, 03:49 AM
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Member Since: Mar 2009
Location: So Cal
Posts: 3,342
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You know, I've often thought about this topic. 
Mostly, I would be okay with a form of compassionate euthanasia, but I think it would need to be monitored and used in a case by case situation.
I don't see anything like this being accepted any time soon though by the medical or psychological/psychiatric communities. I think there is still such a strong argument that even though a psych disorder may not be able to be cured, it can be treated and managed and that this should be enough for people to hold on to. I don't necessarily agree with that however because this is more geared towards quantity and not quality. I also think this would not be looked ay seriously because there is such an intense fear of death throughout certain societies. To embrace human euthanasia would mean having to face our darkest fears which are rooted in our environments, our faith/spirituality, our morals and values, and ethics.
I personally feel that life is profoundly beautiful and precious...and believe it or not, this is the reason I would be able to support monitored compassionate euthanasia. Life is beautiful!! Yet life is not JUST a physical/biological experience, it is also spiritual, and for some who have intractable emotional/psychological pain, biological life can come at the high price of one's spirit and soul.
I think right now, society is promoting quantity of life over quality. We can't cure you...so we'll drug you, charge you lots of money for treatment that will merely treat/mask the symptoms of your pain, and you will just have to suffer. It's taken a long time to get where we are in the Medical profession to become comfortable addressing people's wishes related to end of life care based on medical issues, and I don't see them budging on the mental health spectrum any time soon. Before society would do that, it would have to overcome the stigma of mental health...that it's all in our heads and that it's something we could control if we just got our butts out of bed and started thinking happy thoughts.
This is a great question. I look forward to hearing others thoughts on the subject. 
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