WHO
SHOULD JOIN THE SAFEGUARDS GROUP?
This safeguards group is open to anyone in the world
who believes in the right-to-die in any form.
It
will be a self-selected group of individuals
because
only a few advocates of the right-to-die
are intensely interested in safeguards.
Most people deeply involved in the right-to-die
movement
simply
affirm that every individual
has a right to make end-of-life
choices
without
the interference of anyone else.
When
this is our initial affirmation about our right-to-die,
we
might be willing to allow certain simple safeguards
so
that other people
will be prevented from making mistakes.
At the other end of the spectrum,
we
might find ourselves very concerned about
anyone
using the right-to-die philosophy and methods
for
the purpose of committing an irrational suicide
or
otherwise causing a premature death.
If
we put ourselves here, we are very concerned
with
having a good set of workable, meaningful safeguards.
And
we will probably propose more careful safeguards
than most advocates of the
right-to-die,
who put themselves into the autonomy-first group.
WHO SHOULD JOIN THE SAFEGUARDS GROUP?
The following kinds of people might consider joining
this on-line discussion group:
1.
staff members and board members of any end-of-life organization
who are deeply concerned about
safeguards.
2.
legislators from any state, who know how to put safeguards
into law.
3.
lawyers, who know how to incorporate
safeguards into effective laws.
4.
doctors, who know which safeguards will really make a difference at
the bedside.
5. right-to-die advocates living
outside of the United States,
who have worked with safeguards
elsewhere in the world.
6.
board members of local end-of-life organizations,
who would be most directly
involved
in drafting legislation for their states or countries.
7.
leaders in states and countries
that have recently defeated
right-to-die
legislation.
These
leaders have kept track of
what the opposition said about
proposed safeguards.
8.
prosecutors, who would be responsible for deciding to prosecute
persons
suspected
of causing a harmful, premature death.
These
professionals would know the most effective safeguards
to
present as a defense
against the charge
of
having committed some kind of crime against the patient.
If you want to be part of the discussion of safeguards
to be applied to life-ending decisons, join this on-line group.
How to join this group:
Send a blank e-mail to the following e-mail address:
Right-to-Die---Safeguards+subscribe@googlegroups.com
You
will be asked to establish a Google Account if you do not already have
one.
This is simple to do.
All you need is an e-mail address and a password.
If you have more than one e-mail address,
subscribe from the one you wish to use for discussing
safeguards for life-ending decisions.
created
November 2006; revised January 2007; May 31, 2007; 8-22-2007; 5-13-2010