Should family members face criminal charges for assisting suicide?

[The Straight Story]

Should family members face criminal charges for assisting suicide?

Philadelphia nurse Barbara Mancini has been charged with assisting the suicide of her terminally ill father.

Barbara Coombs Lee, the president of Compassion & Choices, and Stephen Drake, a research analyst at Not Dead Yet, join Consider This host Antonio Mora to weigh in on the court case against Mancini.

Video here:

http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/consider-this/2013/9/should-family-membersfacecriminalchargesforassistingsuicide.html

[virgogal]

1. An unqualified no,IMHO.

[cali]

2. the better question is should assisted suicide be legal.

[furious]

3. No, not if it's a true case of ending severe suffering.

Compassionate assistance of suicide should not be a prosecutable offense. This should be a private family matter.

[sibelian]

4. My instincts say no... but...

...in some cases there might be some question over the nature of assistance and/or the authenticity of the desire for death... There may be a case for keeping it illegal to circumvent the possibility of murder under the guise of assisted suicide.

Is the Magistrate a proper legal authority IRL?

[MicaelS]

5. Absolutely not. n/t

[leftstreet]

6. Yes. Until assisted suicide is legal n/t

[The Straight Story]

8. Should it matter which method is used?

Whether assisted or unassisted?

[leftstreet]

9. That's up to the states, legislation, case law etc

It is what it is

Assisted suicide will probably become legal

[1-Old-Man]

7. Certainly not.

[IdaBriggs]

10. End of life care is deeply personal and subjective.

Decisions made while in temporary unstable states due to pain and/or medication need to be differentiated from clearly understood wishes (like a DNR, for example) made by someone at a different time.

Someone who is *temporarily* despressed may wish to "end it all" and in those cases, the responsible thing to do is activate life saving care.

My strongest concern is that the patience's wishes be respected, and one of the MANY issues with this volitile subject is the ability for elder abuse (with estate benefits and/or exhausted caregivers dealing with a lack of support not making clear headed decisions for *all* involved) if there are not suitable advocates watching over the situation.

So, in answer to your question, I am going with a completely non-qualified "it depends" - Is it truly what the person wanted? Is there sufficient evidence to support that this is not actually a crime for the benefit of someone else? Were compassionate measures taken to minimize suffering at all stages of treatment? Is there any history of mental health issues causing someone to be unqualified to make this type of decision? Etc.

[KamaAina]

11. When someone without a disability wants to commit suicide,

we tell them to call the suicide hotline.

When someone with a disability wants to commit suicide, all too often, we hand them the syringe.

Disclaimer: I've known Steve Drake for years.

[sinkingfeeling]

12. No. We should allow people to state their wish to die when they are in pain

or terminal and doctors should assist in their suicides.