[monday]

"Examples include extremely premature births, where children suffer brain damage from bleeding and convulsions; and diseases where a child could only survive on life support for the rest of its life such as spina bifida and epidermosis bullosa, a blistering illness."

What is the point of extending the pain and suffering of these babies. They are not experiencing life. They are experiencing hell on earth.

I have no problem with artificially extending the life of someone who isn't in pain and/or wants to live, but to force life on someone in agonizing pain and no prospect of ever living with dignity seems crueler and more sadistic than helping that person on to the next world.

[Rutles4Ever]

I personally know two people who were grossly misdiagnosed with spina bifida after birth. They're EXTREMELY "productive" members of society in better health than most people.

[little jeremiah]

You said:

"I have no problem with artificially extending the life of someone who isn't in pain and/or wants to live, but to force life on someone in agonizing pain and no prospect of ever living with dignity seems crueler and more sadistic than helping that person on to the next world."

There are two completely separate issues - one is to keep someone alive artifially with machinery - heart machine, lung machine, etc. The other is to kill the person with drugs, machinery, or starvation.

Why are you equating the two? If someone is terminally ill, nature will take its course soon enough. Why are people so eager to kill someone if he is going to die anyway?

BTW, when talking about extreme pain, I personally have had times under extreme pain. I learned valuable life lessons at such times, and am grateful that no one thought to put me "out of my misery".