Do the Terminally Ill Have a Right to Die?

Separation of Church and State- and vaild arguments

I think the problem here is the separation of Church and State. I understand that religion is an important part in the lives of many people, and that to many it is their guiding force. But just because you have a religion, or lack there of, does not mean you can base your opinion solely off of it. This is where the separation of Church and State should come in. This is not an argument about religion, but about individual rights. Every person has their own set of morals, and their own thoughts and beliefs, and therefore one should not impose their religious morals on another. Here, individual rights need to be upheld and not based on religious views because religious views all vary.

Secondly, you keep on referring to bipolar disorder and relating it to a terminal illness. My cousin also suffers from bipolar disorder and I have witnessed it first hand. But bipolar disorder is not a terminal illness. While the illness can generate depression and sometimes suicidal thoughts, the illness itself is not terminal. Because of this, your argument based upon it is invalid. A terminal illness is one that shortens one’s life expectancy, like cancer or Alzheimer’s, and cannot be cured or alleviated by medication or surgery. Bipolar disorder, on the other hand, while it cannot be cured, can be stabilized by medication and support groups. Your grandmother example is also invalid because euthanasia would not be used on an elderly person just because they are old and do not want to live. You need medical reasons for the use of euthanasia, and being elderly is not one of them because it is not a terminal illness. In this case you would have to talk to your grandmother and show them that you do love and care for them, but it really is the only option because here the option of euthanasia is invalid.

(This goes for both you and bagpiper2005) You can keep your religion (or lack thereof) and its values close to you, but because of the separation of church and state, you need other reasons besides religion for your argument against euthanasia. If this argument keeps on coming back to religion, which should already be ruled out because of sep. of Church and State, then it is going to go no where.