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Darkling5499 t1_j4xu7hs wrote

Multiple states already allow this, and I don't see why this is even an issue: if you're terminally ill, there's no legitimate reason to not let you leave this world with your dignity intact as opposed to being hooked to a machine + tied to a bed for 6 extra months.

my only issue with euthanasia / assisted suicide (and for the US it's not an issue, really) is when the government gets involved and starts pushing it on people deemed too expensive to treat.

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just--questions t1_j4y3kpo wrote

I mean, the US government kinda does deem people too expensive to treat every time medical treatments are denied to Medicare/Medicaid patients.

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Darkling5499 t1_j4ytdpo wrote

True, but it's not at the levels of "became the 6th highest cause of death after being legalized" yet.

Full disclosure, I'm a vet and the Canadian version of the VA basically telling vets with PTSD to kill themselves because they were too expensive to treat makes me a biiiiiiiit biased. You can't just hand a loaded gun to someone who is suicidal / depressed and tell them it's the only way out.

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just--questions t1_j4z0yfa wrote

I agree, I just don’t share the optimism that it wouldn’t become an issue in the USA. Just because they don’t usually say the “kill yourself” part out loud here doesn’t mean our system doesn’t have other ways of encouraging it (like underfunding resources for vets). If MAiD expanded beyond terminal illnesses in the USA, then what would happen when a vet needs treatment for chronic pain or PTSD and there’s a 6 month wait at the VA hospital, but MAiD only has a 3 month wait?

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