Why is assisted suicide a crime? (legal, death, vs, government)

[vamos]

Plain and simple - why is it a crime to help somebody who has requested that his/her life be ended?

I can certainly understand that there would be concern whether the help was really requested or whether it's just some plot to get rid of somebody IF just anybody could assist in suicide.

However, all medical procedures are highly regulated and medical practitioners have to be licensed by the state. What speak against having trained professionals who are licensed assist in suicide?

Obviously, then, I am not talking about some love-sick teenager but people who have a "legitimate" reason to want to end their life on their terms, surrounded and supported by those who are dear to the person.

Doesn't the "my body, my choice" principle apply here as well?

[Dale Cooper]

I agree. I have always contended we treat our pets better than we treat our loved ones. When one of my beloved dogs is in agony, I do the right thing. I want the same for myself.

[HappyTexan]

Because the government says it is. Religions say it is as well.
Governments can change their laws and overnight it becomes legal.

Change the laws to change the morals. That's how government works.
Can't change religion though. The 10 Commandments can't be amended

That's where all your conflict comes in..religious belief vs government laws.

[luzianne]

I think it would be comforting to know that if you got to the point that your suffering was too great, you could choose to end it. My dad had metastatic prostate cancer. He was walking around till the last day, trying to take care of everything and everybody, and not telling any of us the pain he was in. We didn't find out until after his death that it had metastasized to every bone in his body. I hate to think of the pain he endured. He was never the type of person to complain. If I had had any idea, I'd have moved him to my house and gotten hospice to at least keep him comfortable until his death. But he didn't tell us.

I wonder, though, if he knew there was something available to help him, if he would have requested it. Several weeks before he died I was talking to him on the phone and he said "If you get a chance to get out of that body, do it." At the time I didn't understand what he was talking about, but after he died I realized that he meant it's best to leave your body before you are in excruciating pain like he had to have been in; that it's better to die before things get so bad.

I too wonder why we don't let animals suffer, but we aren't allowed to help people in the same situation.