Campaign to legalise Assisted Suicide

[Tweefo]

If this is allowed for adults, I see no reason it shouldn't be for children.

Let the adults opt out of pain but let children suffer?

Sometimes I find it weird that some questions are even questions.

I agree with you all the way but like I said, to make that decision as a parent? Most parent will opt out and hope and pray for a miracle but at some point I suppose you will want to do it. Just don't know how you are going to live with yourself afterwards. At least my kids are grown up now.

[cr1t]

Its a strange area for kids, I can understand that Adults could make the choice.
But on the other hand can a child make that sort of informed choice?
And clearly a adult can't make that choice for them, because then it would be murder.

[BoogieMonster]

I'm operating on the assumption that the kid in question is definitely terminal, and is suffering severely.

From that standpoint, I can totally see the rationale.

But then, I'm not a parent. You don't need to tell me that prob. makes all the difference.

[The Vulcan]

Although I'm not a parent either, I assume that if a parent reaches such a decision they will have to live with the same kind of pain as anyone else would if they were asked to e.g. turn off life support, whether it's for your child or spouse or parent - it's probably the hardest thing you can ask anyone to do, I just don't see any reason why it should make you feel guilt and haunt you, as you did what was in the best interest of your child, maybe I need to be a parent to grasp what you're getting at, but as far as having the choice to do something like this is way better than just starving the person to death or continuously keeping him/her sedated for prolonged periods if you know (s)he is going to die in any event.

We are indeed talking about a terminal and painful situation here, as is the case with all assisted suicide cases and just because a kid isn't fully developed and not a major yet with full capacity to act doesn't mean that minor person is incapable of understanding pain an the need to end it, I often fight with people on this notion that kids have no brains, they may not always be able to distinguish between reality and fiction, but then neither is say people who believe in talking snakes and flying horses... Point is they are still capable of thinking and expressing what they like and don't like, in this there's not much difference between a child's decision to end pain and an adult's decision to end pain and to grasp the full weight of such a decision.

[cr1t]

We've had a child in our family dying of a terminal illness.
And in now way where they even able to understand what was happening
nor could they express such a desire.

If you do not express before hand anything happens that you do not wish for life support to continue,
no body can turn off the life support because it becomes murder. Barring maybe an older teenager I don't
think a child can make such a choice reasonable, so I fail to see how anybody could make it for them, even a parent
because it would still end up a murder. It sucks but that is the way it is.