Would you rather see a family member or a close friend live in pain knowing you can't help him? I'd rather have them dead than let them live in pain.
True, but as mentioned before, being terminally ill isn't. Changing variables doesn't help the discussion.
Sure, a perfectly healthy person who stubbed their toe is fine. Someone who's coughing up blood with two weeks to live isn't. Is it ok to kill one but not the other? I'd say that pretty much sums up what's being asked.
But seriously bru, I don't think anyone would have a problem (morally) with letting a terminally ill dude that's in heaps o' pain choose to end his life. Objections?
So the only issue that remains is whether that ill guy can give the doctor guy permission to kill him. Thoughts?
Easier said than done. Most people in this situation would probably want the doctors to do everything possible, even if they "know" in an intellectual sense that there may be .001% chance of recovery. People often report being 100% confident that they will be the 1 in 1000 that recovers. Futility is much more difficult to assess from within these situations than from the outside.
Like I said, each case needs to be judged individually, would you let a guy with 15 days left to live kill himself? Seems a bit arbitrary.