I started a thread about this that should be placed in here. I will post in here and the mods can delete my other thread if they would like
I am a registered nurse and I work in a Palliative care unit. We have patients that come stay with us until they die and have a comfortable death. Yes, some people's diseases do give them a relatively comfortable end... Others vomit blood, suffer amazing amounts of pain, and suffer for weeks and they know they are dying. I can't explain to you the feeling you get when someone is pleading with you to do something for them and help them die. They know they are dying, we know they are dying and all we can do is pump them with morphine, come in and turn them every 2 hrs so they don't get bedsores, and wait. The families camp in the unit for sometimes weeks waiting with their loved ones. Some people get bedsores before they come in and their feet practically rot off, it smells, and they hurt. Their body eventually goes septic and they die or the cancer they have takes over.
We have another patient who is 83 and had cancer of the larynx. He had it removed and has a trach and a feeding tube. He's been in the hospital for 3 years. He gets washed everyday, turned every 2 hrs and feedings through his feeding tube 4 times a day. He gets an enema every 3 days. Suctioned every hour. He can't communicate, he can't move his limbs (he had a stroke too) and he can't make the decision to stop eating and die. We have been waiting for the past 3 years for the tumor in his chest to block off his airway. He cries about once a week (that we know of). To me, no matter what he did in his life, he's paid for it in the past 3 years. I wish he could die with dignity.
I feel that if someone chooses to die, they should be granted that wish if they are sick and there is no hope. I think that people are not allowed to die because of the Christian viewpoint that they will go to hell. I personally don't think it's fair and that it is their life and their right to choose life or death.