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I don't like this proposal because it effectively guarantees that most people's last experience of life will be making the decision that they are worthless. That's not a 'good death' to me.
I'm not starry-eyed about getting old, but I would prefer a solution where we stop providing non-palliative care at a certain age (85-90). We give people pain-killers and so on, but we don't try to cure them of things or prevent their body from failing. I've been tossing that proposal around for a while so I'd be interested to know the Motte's doctors think of it. What Schelling points are there between 'making people comfortable' and full-on interventionism?
I mean, if they can afford to pay for it then let them use their money to extend their life as much as they care to.
The real problem will end up being those whose body is still functional but whose mind is so far gone that they can't look after themselves and can't actually make an informed decision to accept euthanasia anyway.
So we provide 'palliative' care to folks who will never regain their faculties but could be kept alive another 3+ years with basic care. Do we spend those resources or no?
I’m ruling out euthanasia in all cases, for basically the reason that I give above plus the ethical and political concerns others have mentioned.
If it’s cheap, all is well. If somebody can’t even feed themselves without expensive 24 hour care then presumably they will die soon and we try and keep them comfortable while that happens. Of course, family can step in and do the work themselves.
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I don’t think it needs to be seen as an acknowledgement of worthlessness. Instead it would be a noble and heroic “my time has come, I lived my life, now I will end it with dignity”. The choice is not living versus not living so much as living terribly versus finalizing one’s life. If your personality and memory have run out and the rest of your months / years are pain, I’m not sure how much that is living.
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