Actually, we had to make a descision like that just recently in my family, with my great uncle. He wanted to go, so he was going to refuse treatment. We had power of attorney, we could've overridden that descision if we so chose. The man had lived a good long life, and was ready to move on to the afterlife he believed was waiting for him. There was nothing left for him to do in this world. He died in the hospital a few days after refusing continued treatment, and he died completely sound of mind, capable of interecting with people. And he died surrounded by friends and family. Not one person in that room wanted him to stay there rotting away in misery. To keep him there when most of them believed he had the option of moving on to the afterlife where he'd be forever free of pain would be selfish and cruel.

Quote Originally Posted by Aerif
There is no way of knowing what tomorrow might bring for medicine. I personally think that there will be a cure for cancer some time in the next ten years, that doesn't mean that the scientists who discover it will release it (because there are a fair number of heartless scientists who have no sense of morality), but we can always hope for a cure no matter how bad a situation gets.
Hope is all well and good, but what people don't need is false hope. Yeah, there's a chance that a cure for cancer could be discovered tomorrow. The odds of that happening however are astronomically bad. I'm not much of a gambler. Given a the 1:1,000,000,000 chance I'll be saved and get to continue a happy pain free life don't stand up too well to the 999,999,999:1,000,000,000 chance I'll still be here in misery tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after, and so on. If I die, the odds of me losing and continuing to suffer are 0. There is no safer bet.

We knew he was in pain, he could talk at times and opened his eyes, recognised our voices and I believe he made it through a rosary when the priest went to visit him. But at no point did I think the correct thing to do was to put him out of his misery. If he had requested that we kill him, I don't think any of us would have complied. Because you never know with medicine, there's always a chance. It may seem selfish, but if we had pulled the theoretical plug, and some groundbreaking new therapy that could save his life emerged the next day that would be a lot more painful than watching him waste away.
That IS selfish. Forcing a man to suffer so you can feel happy while counting on a fool's gamble to pay off is among the most selfish things I could think of. We do not exist for the amusement of our families. I sure as hell ain't gonna suffer for their amusement. My life belongs to me, and I'll do with it whatever I damn well please. It'll go the way I want it, or it will end.

I understand that the typical patients who want to end their lives have faced longer than a month in a poor state, but taking another life is still murder. And we don't have any right to do that.
Taking a life is murder. Taking however implies that it belonged to another, and theydid not wish to lose it. To force a man to continue to live so that you can feel better, THAT is taking his life. Taking it, and keeping it because you refuse to let him do with it what he chooses.

I hope that I never end up in a situation where I have to make that choice, because I could never let someone I was close to leave this world when they have the choice to stay.
When you make it for them, they DON'T have the choice. You've taken the choice away from them because you believe you know better how they should live and how they should die.