Word: euthanasias
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...TUESDAY, the voters of Washington State defeated Initiative 119, which would have legalized what proponents euphemistically termed "aid-in-dying." That means legalized euthanasia...
Supporters of Initiative 119--led by the Hemlock Society, a national organization which advocates the complete legalization of all euthanasia and suicide--argued that "aid-in-dying" would allow people to control the most important personal decision possible, whether to live or die. They said that, because doctors' traditional role is to decrease the suffering and increase the well-being of their patients, allowing doctors to end suffering through ending their patients' lives is a natural extension of this role...
...thankful that the voters thought twice before voting "Yes." Euthanasia, no matter what compassionate rhetoric it comes cloaked in, is a fundamentally dangerous practice. Also being considered in California, Oregon and Florida, euthanasia would destroy the trust of the doctor-patient relationship. More importantly, it would open the door to a subjective standard of the value of life which would destroy the very foundations of human liberty--personal autonomy--by giving doctors the right to kill patients at their own discretion...
Suffering patients, euthanasia advocates say, should not be forced to continue their lives in extreme pain and suffering. Doctors are healers and comforters, they say, so they should be allowed to ease the pain of their patients by terminating their pain in the most final fashion...
With 6 percent of the votes counted, the state split 50-50 on a measure that would make Washington the only jurisdiction in the world legally sanctioning euthanasia...