Euthanasia- The controversy

Sometimes one thinks about every human being's "right to live. "
Or then equally, every human being's 'right to die."

And that is really the crux of the issue- Euthanasia, or the act of "mercy killing"

A debate that really has no end in sight and one that can go on forever. Depending on which side of the debate one chooses to position oneself on.

My personal belief- Every individual has the right to be able to decide how long they wish to live. But more importantly, under what conditions they wish to live.

Living wills allow people to specify what treatment they want if they become mentally incompetent - if they develop dementia, for instance. e.g.in the UK the government is drawing up plans to give them legal force.

In Holland the same line of reasoning applies to soft drugs and euthanasia- people will smoke soft drugs, so it might be better to educate them about it openly; doctors will be faced with requests from people who would prefer to end their suffering, so perhaps better be realistic about it.

This is really an extremely practical approach to follow.One seriously wishes that more govts. worldwide would take note of this and perhaps follow....

Broadly we know of- passive euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide and active euthanasia.But I suspect that there are many more variations...

Finally, like in so mnay critical issues, govts can only take lead and perhaps give a direction.Much will of course depend on a 'case to case' basis..

And so the debate will go on....