If you don't believe in God, you are pretty much on your own. You can do whatever you want with your life. Screwing up your life does not bother you much; anyway, you own your life, right? But to any sensible and thinking individual, it is quite logical to believe that there is a God. The universe, the solar system, the earth, the proper distance of sun and moon, plants and animals, the wonderful creations, all of these things did not came from out of nowhere. All things around us were created by a powerful intelligent and compassionate being. God gave us life and it is only fair enough to say that God has the only right to take our lives
See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me:
I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal:
neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.
Deuteronomy 32:39
The separation between (Physician) Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia is quite a very thin line. But I guess the story of Sir Edward Downes (one of Britain's most well-known conductors) will really differentiate PAS and Euthanasia. I personally believe that PAS should have not been granted to the couple because FIRST - Sir Edward Downes was not terminally ill SECOND - His wife (Joan) has pancreatic cancer and given weeks to live. They should have just waited for her to die instead of allowing them to kill themselves.
Please read the Assisted Suicide story of Sir Edward Downes on the lower part of this page:
At this point, the legalized (Physician) Assisted Suicide was abused.
Romantically, the couple where kind of a modern-day older version of Romeo and Juliet.
But Morally and Spiritually, this is totally wrong.
On the case of the Downes couple, We cannot call it Euthanasia but as a clear case of Assisted Suicide. They have paid the amount of $7,000 for each patient for them to "kill themselves with dignity" and with the assistance of a Physician and basically they are actually not dying (Joan was still given weeks to live before the assisted suicide)
(The couple drunk a poison together inside a "clinic" and died after several minutes).
The whole process was video-taped while their kids are watching.
The decision of the Downes couple is their personal matters. Even without the Physician Assisted Suicide, they can simply buy a gun and shoot themselves if they really want to. What matters most is the impact that this kind of act might give to the other prospective people who will follow their death pact. "Legalized" Assisted Suicide is like of allowing people to kill themselves. This is vulnerable to a different level of abuse. Losing hope, despair, and loneliness can trigger anyone to cash out some money and walk-in to a drive-thru clinic and perform a "dignified?) Painless suicide. Yes, I am also looking to EMOs and troubled teenagers. Dysfunctional parents hide their guns at home, some parents kill their children out of desperation and in the near future, parent might also give consent to their children to commit PAS. It may sound far-fetching but please go back to this site when that thing happens.
The legalized (Physician) Assisted Suicide in some countries is actually a law that can benefit (?) and can be used only by people who can afford it. By paying some money to a clinic that offers PAS, you can already undergo the assisted suicide in a dignified painless way. Painful death is more usually experienced by the less fortunate folks. Without enough money, they have to endure most serious cases. Poor folks sometimes die enduring such an unimaginable pain without any medical help especially when you're in a poor country like the Philippines. I am not suggesting that (Physician)-Assisted Suicide should also be open to the poor people but what I am trying to say is that the "legalized" (Physician) Assisted Suicide will only benefit a minor people but will affect the moral and spiritual side of a greater number of people.
Death is not a simple choice you make overnight. It is a major decision that will cost you not only your life but your soul as well. Suicide, Euthanasia, (Physician)-Assisted Suicide is not being suggested by the Bible to Christians. Is suicide an escape? Yes. In the (Physician)-Assisted Suicide, the doctors are the one who are playing God. It is the Physician who will tell on who, when and how someone will actually die. (I think this is the reason why more and more doctors are reluctant on being involved with assisted suicide)
Do I consider Physicians who assists people to take their own lives as murderers? My answer, I think they are. Preparing a poison for people who are willing to die is a kind of abomination to me. This is synonymous of buying a gun and giving it to people so they can kill themselves and the worse of it, is these Physicians are getting paid for helping people to kill themselves.
Sir Edward Downes and his wife Joan committed the Assisted Suicide
Going Too Far with Assisted Suicide?
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1912417,00.html
The story of Sir Edward's "death pact" was at first sight an irresistible love story. His wife Joan, 74, a former ballerina, had a diagnosis of terminal liver and pancreatic cancer; because assisted suicide is illegal in Britain, they traveled to a Zurich clinic, where, for a fee of about $7,000 per patient, the group Dignitas arranges for death by barbiturate. "They drank a small quantity of clear liquid and then lay down on the beds next to each other," their son Caractacus said. They fell asleep and died within minutes, he reported, calling it a "very civilized" final act.
...
The problem is that Sir Edward, while in failing health at age 85, was not dying. His eyesight was nearly gone, his hearing was weak, and he faced the prospect of life without his soulmate
Edward Downes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Downes
Death
Although not terminally ill, Downes had been coping with increasing deafness and near total blindness for many years. He had become almost totally dependent on his wife after his health declined following a hip replacement. Lady Downes was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer metastasised to her liver and given weeks to live.
Lady Downes wrote a letter to family explaining that she had decided against treatment and that:
all the plans that need to be made had been.
Now, I must tell you that even though I had hoped to be around a bit longer, death doesn’t worry me at all.
I have no religion and as far as I am concerned it will be an "offswitch" so after you have thought about it a bit don’t worry.
It has been a happy and interesting life and I have no regrets. I have no idea how long I will last but I send love to you all and your extensive families.
Enjoy it while it lasts.
With love to you all, Joan.
Sir Edward, aged 85, and Lady Downes, aged 74, ended their lives by assisted suicide at the Dignitas clinic in Zürich, Switzerland, on 10 July 2009. Although Joan did not want the children present, Dignitas encouraged it and "Ted and Joanie" were reported to be pleased when the time came. Their children issued a statement speaking of "serious health problems" suffered by the couple. A statement issued by the couple's children said that while Downes could have gone on living with his deafness and blindness, he did not want to do so after his wife was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Assisted suicide of American Craig Ewert to be broadcast on British television
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2008/12/09/2008-12-09_assisted_suicide_of_american_craig_ewert.html
A must read:
Suicide Is Never a Solution, Period.
http://esoriano.wordpress.com/2007/06/30/stop-suicide-is-never-a-solution-period
