#97 - Should We Legalize Assisted Suicide?

Open to Debate

Education, News, Society & Culture

4.6 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 27 December 2019

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Now legal in nine U.S. states and the District of Columbia, physician-assisted suicide has a growing contingency that want to legalize the practice. Will these laws lead to a slippery slope, where the vulnerable are pressured to choose death and human life is devalued? Or do we need to recognize everyone’s basic right to autonomy, the right to end pain and suffering, and the right to choose to die with dignity? FOR THE MOTION: Peter Singer - Philosopher & Professor of Bioethics, Princeton University Andrew Solomon - Author, "Far From the Tree" & Prof. of Clinical Psychology, Columbia University AGAINST THE MOTION: Baroness Ilora Finlay - President, British Medical Association & Member, House of Lords Dr. Daniel Sulmasy - Prof. of Medicine and Ethics, University of Chicago & Member, Presidential Bioethics Commission Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:30.7	Hi, everybody.
0:31.4	I'm John Donvan, host and moderator of Intelligence Squared U.S. debates.
0:34.9	And the debate you're about to hear, this one is a controversial medical issue.
0:40.8	And it's one that cuts to the core of personal liberty and freedom and morality and our understanding of life and death.
0:48.1	It's the topic of physician-assisted suicide.
0:51.2	And we recorded this debate live back in 2014. Since then, five more states,
0:56.6	including Maine and New Jersey in 2019 and the District of Columbia, have affirmed the right to
1:02.5	provide assisted suicide. Before you hear the opening statements, I want to remind you that you can
1:07.9	cast your pre-debate vote online at IQ2.us.org.
1:12.2	That's IQ, the number two, us.org.
1:15.9	Our online polling is still open, and you can help choose which team is the ultimate winner.
1:22.2	Now, on to our debate where the resolution was very directly and bluntly stated as legalize assisted suicide.
1:31.8	Sometimes numbers can tell a simple story. So here are some numbers from Oregon, which has had a
1:38.2	death with dignity act since 1997, allowing individuals with terminal illnesses to get lethal prescriptions from their doctors
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