It’s a crime (part three)

Bill Maher has this great bit about being pro death. “I’m pro death. I am pro-death penalty.  I am pro-choice.  I am pro-assisted suicide, pro-regular suicide. I am for anything that gets the traffic moving faster” While this is a funny way of expressing his views, he’s still expressing his real views.

I too am pro death, especially when it comes to assisted suicide. I don’t understand why this is a crime. I mean why needlessly prolong someone’s suffering. You wouldn’t do that to a family pet, so why do it to your grandmother? Of course the family pet hasn’t named you in his will, so there’s not all of that legal crap to worry over. I’m not suggesting that assisted suicide should be allowed if the person assisting is a family member, there’s too much temptation possible in that scenario and the consequences would be too legally messy. However, if a dying person, who has no chance at a quality existence decides they would rather not continue living, I don’t understand why their doctor cannot help them out of their pain. The doctor doesn’t even have to be the one to administer the final blow. Leave it in the hands of the patient, by allowing them control of the morphine drip. They can just press the button until it’s over. Isn’t it preferable to die without pain? To give the patient some control over his/her last moments? To allow this person to die with dignity?

I haven’t even gotten into the fact that the healthcare industry would save millions of dollars every year if people were allowed to choose this option, rather than be kept alive with expensive machinery and drugs. In countries like Canada, that has universal healthcare, it makes no sense not to allow assisted suicide. In the United States, however, where healthcare is a for profit industry (don’t get me started on the moral issues this raises), I suppose assisted suicide takes food out of the mouths of the doctor’s servants. Getting back to civilized countries, as the Baby Boomers (the most populous generation on the planet) are aging and governments are facing spending multiple millions of dollars on their healthcare, it only makes fiscal sense to allow the OPTION of assisted suicide.