At Mon, 05 Apr 1999 16:00:19 -0400, you wrote:
>
>Scott Badger wrote:
>
>> I also remember hearing that Dr. K stated that, if convicted and jailed, he
>> would fast until he died. I wonder to what degree he was just getting old
>> and tired and wanted a showdown before he himself died. This may be why he
>> chose to make the injection himself rather than allow the patient to pull
>> his own plug, and possibly why he chose to represent himself in court. He
>> must have known that this would increase the probability of his conviction.
>> Maybe he intended to go to jail all along where his own suicide, the
>> ultimate expression of his belief in the right to die, would have a greater
>> chance of turning him into a martyr.
>>
>>
>
>It seems to me that his goal is to starve himself to the point where the
>government will keep him alive on a nutritive IV drip, so his lawyers can then
>get him classified as a political prisoner.
>
>Mike Lorrey
I believe that unsuccessful suicides should get the death penalty.
On a more serious note, my father is massively emphysemic, and on constant oxygen, and has extensive skin cancer. He supports Dr. K., but my mother, who is diabetic, has high blood pressure, glaucoma and arthritic hips, opposes him. If A = an intolerable medical condition and B = the desire to die to escape it, clearly A+B must inhere for assisted suicide to be legitimate. It is also clear that the family's wishes should be irrelevant, whether they are in favor of or opposed to such action - they may live WITH the person in question, but only the person in question lives inside the condition; therefore only the person in question should have the right to decide whether or not to leave it.
Joe E. Dees
Poet, Pagan, Philosopher