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The right to die is a moral principle based on the belief that a human being is entitled to commit suicide or to undergo voluntary euthanasia. Possession of this right is often understood to mean that a person with a terminal illness should be allowed to commit suicide or assisted suicide or to decline life-prolonging treatment, where a disease would otherwise prolong their suffering to an identical result. The question of who, if anyone, should be empowered to make these decisions is often central to debate. Proponents typically associate the right to die with the idea that one's body and one's life are one's own, to dispose of as one sees fit. However, a legitimate state interest in preventing irrational suicides is sometimes argued. Pilpel and Amsel write, "Contemporary proponents of 'rational suicide' or the 'right to die' usually demand by 'rationality' that the decision to kill oneself be both the autonomous choice of the agent (i.e., not due to the physician or the family pressuring them to 'do the right thing' and commit suicide) and a 'best option under the circumstances' choice desired by the stoics or utilitarians, as well as other natural conditions such as the choice being stable, not an impulsive decision, not due to mental illness, achieved after due deliberation, etc." Hinduism accepts the right to die for those who are tormented by terminal diseases or those who have no desire, ambition or no responsibilities remaining; and allows death through the non-violent practice of fasting to the point of starvation (Prayopavesa).〔(【引用サイトリンク】title= Hinduism — Euthanasia and Suicide )〕 Jainism has a similar practice named ''Santhara''. Other religious views on suicide vary in their tolerance, and include denial of the right as well as condemnation of the act. In the Catholic faith, suicide is considered a grave sin.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Catholic Digest - The Magazine for Catholic Living - Do people who commit suicide go to hell? )〕 ==Ethics== A debate exists within bioethics over whether the right to die is universal, only applies under certain circumstances—such as terminal illness, or if it exists at all. A court in the American state of Montana, for example, has found that the right to die applies to those with life-threatening medical conditions. Suicide advocate Ludwig Minelli, euthanasia expert Sean W. Asher and bioethics professor Jacob J. Appel, in contrast, argue that, ''all'' competent people have a right to end their own lives. Appel has suggested that the right to die is a test for the overall freedom of a given society. The 1991 Patient Self-Determination Act passed by The Congress of the USA at the request of the financial arm of Medicare does permit elderly Medicare/Medicaid patients (and by implication, all "terminal" patients) to prepare an advance directive in which they elect or choose to refuse life-extending and/or life-saving treatments as a means of shortening their lives to shorten their suffering unto certain death. The treatment refused in an advance directive under US law, because of the 1991 PSDA, does not have to be proved to be "medically futile" under some existing due-process procedure developed under state laws, such as TADA in Texas. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Right to die」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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