Non-voluntary euthanasia is euthanasia conducted when the explicit consent of the individual concerned is unavailable, such as when the person is in a persistent vegetative state, or in the case of young children.
Assisted suicide is contrasted to euthanasia, sometimes referred to as mercy killing, where the person dying does not directly bring about their own death, but is killed in order to stop the person from experiencing further suffering.
I recently asked:
Euthanasia can occur with or without consent, and can be classified as voluntary, non-voluntary or involuntary.
Voluntary euthanasia is when a person wishes to have their life ended and is legal in a growing number of countries.
Non-voluntary euthanasia occurs when a patient's consent is unavailable and is legal in some countries under certain limited conditions, in both active and passive forms.
Involuntary euthanasia, which is done without asking for consent or against the patient's will, is illegal in all countries and is usually considered murder.
This poll is primarily concerned with the second of these, i.e. NON-Voluntary Euthanasia.
Here is a poll for voluntary euthanasia:
1,000To explain my YES position, consider this prototypical situation for non-voluntary euthanasia: An elderly woman with heavy brain injuries such that she can't meaningful consent or understand the situation. No medical care will heal her, and she's in pain in an uncomfortable bed in an unfamiliar location. She'll die in two months, but she won't die immediately just from stopping care. She's basically in hell, and if she could understand euthanasia she would consent to it. But she can't.
In this situation, it seems immoral to force her to continue to live, and euthanasia would be the best thing for her. Because she can't consent, it's definitionally non-voluntary. But she's not advocating against it, so it's not involuntary euthanasia.
@Shump I think this is what is called an Advance Directive.
Advance directives are legal documents that provide instructions for medical care and only go into effect if you cannot communicate your own wishes.
The two most common advance directives for health care are the living will and the durable power of attorney for health care.
This scenario is most likely a form of NON-voluntary euthanasia
@mattyb Thats the involuntary one. This is the non-voluntary euthanasia -> suppose a patient is in pain and is unable to consent
@firstuserhere ahhh i see. even if i could recant my vote, i’m pretty mixed here and more “no” than yes.
if you wanna die, society should allow this. if you don’t <murkiness>