I am against assisted suicide. As a nurse, I have seen suffering too, however no person is an island and I think there is no real way to be sure that this is the individual's own desires or someone elses'. Already in some countries, we are seeing assisted suicide of the mentally ill, children and I even read about someone who was intractably obese being assisted to end his life (assisted as he wasn't able to). I think it is a very quick leap to 'assist' those 'undesirables' in society. I cannot comment on someone taking their own life, that is a personal choice but we never have the right to assist someone to end theirs. People are not sophisticated enough.

I've always said that the day I judge myself to be burden or potential liability to my family I will quietly go away and end it all rather than drag them down with me, even if they want to.

I am in favour of it. However we must be careful about its use and abuse.
Firstly, our life belongs to us, and therefore cannot belong to another person or society.
Secondly, having seen this from my fathers perspective and that of my wife, who both died at the end of illnesses. He had had his time and wanted to go on his terms with family and friends around him having a good laugh, his music and probably a drink or five too. Instead he had to starve himself to death, waiting for his body to finally fail. Due to commitments I couldn't be with him at the end, I was nursing my wife through chemotherapy a 1000km north. So that wasn't nice for me or him. Then with my wife, she asked me some years before her untimely death to 'finish her' when the time came. I refused, but at her end, she changed her mind and wanted to live, she didn't want to leave me. Instead the NHS had to dehydrate her to death. She passed during the early hours of a Sunday, but her cognitive functions ceased on a Thursday afternoon. Just the last part of her brain stem operating the automatic functions. As a veterinary surgeon, she had put to sleep many 'furry family members' when their time came, she understood that at that point, it only serves to cause pain to family and friends by keeping a dead body alive. Choice and dignity.

I’m 110% for it and as someone who’s watched people die a slow and suffering death due to disease, cancer or even worse the treatments for cancer I want to have that option and I believe that everyone else should as well.

Our country needs to put humanity before profit.

Yes. I think sometimes the merciful thing to do is end suffering. I watched my mother waste away both mentally and physically and there was nothing I could do but in the same type of situation with my dog, I was able to end the suffering with a final act of love and kindness. I seriously wanted to smother my mom with a pillow at the end it was so bad. While I was sad when she passed, my main emotion was relief that it was over for her.

Absolutely 100% in favor of people being legally permitted to make their own decisions regarding their own lives.
Including how and when they end.

I watched an academic documentary about the decision to turn off life support. It was produced for medical students to help them explain options to relatives. In recent years there have been a number of famous cases involving young children. I understand they caused contraversy in USA because children belong to parents in UK where as they don't here. Anyway they interviewed families who had taken the decision to turn off life support (assisted suicide of a sort). Most moved forward but notably a few families couldn't. One guy said, it is easy to say what you would do but you never know and that is the best way to view it. I can't imagine ever wanting to leave this world, but you never know.

I'm all for assisted end of life. I decided this after watching my Mother, who was mobile with normal aging aches and pains, locked in a secured memory care facility. She had dementia but remembered us but often talked about us as if we were much younger. She cried a lot wanting to know what she had done wrong and how bad the guards were. She wasn't in prison but it felt like it to her. She was miserable for 3 or 4 yrs and even if her memory was scrambled, her emotions, whether rightly or wrongly deserved, were real. I hope my mental state lasts long enough that I know when the right time is.

I hope I have the capacity and the courage to end my life once my health and quality of life are irreversably poor, but I would appreciate it if I could legally have a doctor aid me in doing this. If that is not an option by then, I will find a way even if I have to order the drugs by mail to do it.

I feel it's a personal decision and not be controlled by the morality of a group.

In favor. I have seen people slowly waste away and noticed neither dignity nor necessity in that.

Completely agree. I don't like how people are forced to live through excruciating pain just to die. That could takes months or years even with "terminal" cases. Don't even get me started on becoming paralyzed. I was paralyzed for a short period of time after a fall when I was a teenager. Never have I been more afraid of anything else after that. I wouldn't want to live like that. Or with being in a coma or with cerebral.disorders, Not having lived the life I have already.

I agree.

I've seen death and the slow process of dying. I have a best friend with terminal cancer say "Living is hard, Dying is harder". It's a personal choice to end suffering and I believe in it. We are able to put our pets out of their misery, why should humans suffer?

If the person is of sound mind but not body, I am for it. I watched my father inlaw beg his doctor to give him something to end his life, it was heartbreaking. A person should have the right to ask their doctor for meds they could take on their own to peacefully end their life.

I support a person's right to choose it.

It Will be kind to the terminally ill person.

I'm very open about death and dying. I've talked to my adult children about it. After working in a nursing home most of my life, I saw too much. I saw children keeping mom or dad going with more procedures, more trips to the hospital, more IVs, more torture. Because " I'm not ready to lose mom/dad,yet". They know I never want to be a burden to them. They know I do not want to be in a nursing home. They know I couldn't bear to lose my quality of life. I told them, that when the time comes, I will find a way to leave this world on my own terms, and that they have to know this is what I wanted. Advanced directives are in place. Mausoleum niche bought. Urn bought. Just have to set up the cremation details.

If ends the pain or the person in question won't have a decent life quality, I'm in favour.

I would have voted for Jack Kevorkian for president.

Our society values longevity over quality. I've never understood that. In my industry I see people all the time who are suffering, in pain just waiting to die. Its heart breaking. We need better options.

I’m in favor of it.
I was a Hospice RN and got misconceptions about it being the ‘same’ as euthanasia. I’ve heard the same about assisted suicide, but I disagree. It’s a valid choice for end of life, just as Hospice is.
I wish it was legal here, too.

I have told all my children that if I ever contract an illness/disease/accident where my quality of life it essentially non-existent, that I want to be euthanized if at all possible. I do NOT want to be a burden to either myself or my family, and I do want want to be slobbering in the corner with no awareness of anything going on.

I also have a living will, and a POA with my youngest son listed. My youngest son lives with me and is well aware of what I want and don't want if something happens to me. He also is a hardheaded cajun and will make sure my wishes are heard. The only person I'm actually concerned about is my religious sister, but I feel (hopefully) I've taken cared of that by making sure my children know my wishes.

Why can we not do for a person, with their wishes known, what we do for a beloved pet? My living will only goes so far.

It should be the choice of the person involved. I do think it's important that the person that has asked for assisted suicide be given a small amount of time to contemplate and verify that is what they want for sure. My husband's brain cancer denied him a choice in that area. Eventually I had to make the decision to withdraw life support and that's a very hard decision when the person you love cannot communicate with you any longer. My father wanted to die during the last two months of his life but his decision wavered almost daily. In other words assisted suicide should be granted but there should be safe guards.