If someone is going to die a painful death, shouldn't they have the privilage to an honourable, painless death?

Why would you let a person suffer? If they are dying slowly of a terminal disease, there's no point in prolonging their misery. If they consent, and actually want to die, then that should be their choice.

Medical technology has advanced to the point where the terminally ill can be kept alive even though the mind has ceased to function. The high costs of sustaining patients who have no known method of improving is a serious economic burden on the family of the patient. For most, funeral costs alone are too much to handle.

I agree with the annoymous mans point and I would like to add that there is no set rules of good and evil, good and evil is the product of an individuals own perceptions and thought process and is entirely individual from person to person depending on how they see the world, if an individual percieves their death as being the right thing to do, then that's there choice. I think the main argument is used by people whom follow a religion- by commiting suicide they surrender their right to a utopic afterlife and instead opting for a torturous afterlife (in the case of reincarnation based being made into a non human). I don't believe in any afterlife and therefore I don't believe there are any long term sacrifices however, I understand that the small time we have on earth is precious and that if an individual chooses to die then that is their choice and that it is derived from their desperation to escape their illness. However, I would like to make a point of saying that I do believe that psychotic(and in some cases neurotic) patients should not be allowed to make that choice until they are mentally 'well'

stopping someones life even with their consent is murder, therefore immoral.