h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

many people's view on euthanasia is that it should be allowed in 'severe' cases. the big problem with this view is that ou cannot quantify pain and suffering. if you start to allow euthanasia, then i think the boundaries will shift, for example, not so long ago abortion was only allowed for 'severe' cases, and now anyone can get one. i dont think that you can give a set of conditions that have to be satisfied for euthanasia to take place, that will stay rock solid and not slide.
i also think that one of the huge deciding reasons in the diane pritty case was not whether she was in pain and really wanted to die, but that granting euthanasia would have set a legal precedent, which is a dangerous thing to do in a country where euthanasia is currently illegal.
but the other problem is that we could end up with a situation like ireland; irish girls come to england for an abortion, we could soon have english people going to holland to die.
its a very tricky issue, and i dont think there can be a set in stone answer.

I was debating this with a lawyer about this a few weeks back. He was saying that once Euthanasia has been allowed there is then a precedant for a form of 'legal murder' and that once this is in place it will be open to exploitation. This seemed a little far fetched to me, but he was adamant that this had been the pattern with previous precedants. I was wondering if there were any lawyers or anyone else who knows the law well enough to comment?

This is indeed a slippery slope.

Did you read the religion/view post?
This is an excerpt of an excerpt, excellant article posted there.

"I am not put off by the slippery slope arguments that are so often used by religious forces and that resort to fearmongering when they cannot embrace the new realities............ These are, in my mind, nothing but the smokescreens of negativity, designed to play on the fear present when childlike dependency is threatened and when mature human decisions are mandated."

I am completely nonreligious. Aetheist not agnostic. I do not know how our law works but I am scared, yes I'll admitt it scared sh*tless, that legalised murder could become a reality. I want to hear from people in the legal community precisely why this may or may not happen.

While abuse rates of the elderly in the UK at at 1 in 20 I think there has to be some consideration of the slippery slope arguement. The fact that 1 in 40 elderly people are abused by their relatives makes legalising euthanasia very dodgy legal ground - thats not to say that living wills and peoples choices should be ignored...or even that individual euthanasia shouldn't be authorised on a case by case basis through the courts, but to remove legal protection from a group of people who *are* being abused far too often seems to be asking for trouble.

Making bad laws which result in a few high profile mistakes could do a lot more harm than waiting a few years and tackling the problems in elderly care and dealing with elderly abuse as harshly as it deserves.

http://www.rednoseday.com/comicrelief/issues/elderabuse.shtml

Good work Pencil Queen. Attention to that is very important!