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See I can't agree with this statement. I feel there are definitely levels of mental health that would need to be assessed.
If it's mental illness due to life getting you down because your aren't making enough money or you lost your job then that can be fixed with the right intervention but mental illness caused by distress (E.G physical abuse as a child, Rape or severe mental disorder that effects day to day life) they are a different story. PTSD is a real thing and it's very life altering.
Where do you draw the line? Terminally ill patients suffer for months or years living a less then desirable life and would jump at the chance of being able to leave painlessly and peacefully. 

Sure, some of them would do so. But then what degree of pain and suffering should qualify? How to set a standard? Cause we are to enable legally killing a person and that understandably should not be easy.

I don't see a problem with this as long as family members agree that is the best procedure to follow for the person.

Why family members? We have two problems here - both possibility of family members needlessly prolonging suffering in cases where assisted suicide is wanted by the patients and possibility of family bullying a patient into suicidal thoughts to warrant an assisted suicide.
And what about medical malpractice? There are absolutely horrible people who shouldn't be doctors, who can use it to make statistics of their hospital look better. On the other hand we will have doctors who are devoted to saving lives who will be forced to kill people.

On the other hand I also see those with severe mental health disorders.

That is a complete different can of worms, introducing eugenics. People with severe mental disorders often are not able to decide about themselves and we are discussing the topic of deciding should they live or die. Don't you see an obvious danger there?

So why do we allow people to suffer? 

Because ways to resolve it are very likely to introduce even more suffering. That is the sad truth. We are pushing the boundaries of medicine to save or resolve issues with many health problems, but there will be people who are beyond saving as of now. But would they be beyond saving tomorrow?
How are we to study those diseases and try new treatments if we decide that they can die? How would a family feel if they decided to let their family member die to ease suffering if two years later there is a breakthrough that allows to cure their aliment, or make it bearable to live with it? >

"Sure, some of them would do so. But then what degree of pain and suffering should qualify?"
I dunno. Maybe the person's who dying of cancer? >

I do generally agree that the severely and terminally ill should at a certain point be given the option of euthanasia, in order to avoid weeks or months of extreme pain and loss of bodily function before inevitable death.
Euthanasia for mental illness is a different matter. I could see how this could lead to some potentially dangerous outcomes. For one, children in poverty are more likely to be subjected to abuse, neglect, and maltreatment; people living in poverty also have less access to good mental healthcare and proper medications.
As a result, I think you would see a disproportionate amount of impoverished people being euthanized. It would be, "If you're wealthy, we'll give you proper medication and therapy; but if you're poor, we can always just kill you and get it over with!" A more sustainable (and less dystopian) solution would be to extend functional mental health resources and support to those who can't currently afford it.
Also, statistics show that 90% of people who unsuccessfully attempt suicide once don't go on to later die by suicide, and 70% never attempt suicide again. This seems to suggest that suicide is actually not the answer these people were looking for, and they can still go on to live stable, even happy lives.
Finally, there's the question of informed consent. Depression is a disease that chemically tricks your brain into wanting to kill itself. In this state, can a patient truly make a decision of informed consent? Is the cure to the illness just giving into it? It's a bit like saying we should treat schizophrenia by all just pretending a patient is actually the Emperor of France. >


A more sustainable (and less dystopian) solution would be to extend functional mental health resources and support to those who can't currently afford it.

Exactly.
If euthanasia becomes legal (which it should be, imo), we need to be very careful that it is strictly a method of last resort. We cannot have a situation where the system basically encourages the poor or mentally ill to kill themselves because it'd be easier/less of an economic burden.
That's just eugenics. >

The problem with euthanasia and assisted suicide is that they tend to be directed towards individuals with a poor quality of life. However, just because quality of life is poor, does not mean that individual has a life that is of less moral value than a person whose quality of life is normal. If quality of life does not determine the moral value of a life, then I don't see how it should be morally permissable, let alone legally permissable to allow someone to prematurely end their life or that of another person. It may be helpful here to scope out what it means to properly bodily exercise bodily autonomy. 
In my view, prematurely your ending your life by initiating a new fatal casual series of events (e.g. lethal injection) to quicken death is always an improper exercise of bodily autonomy. On the other hand, refusing treatment for an already existing fatal causal series of event (e.g. terminal disease) is a proper exercise of bodily autonomy, as nothing is being done to hasten death in the person. >


The problem with euthanasia and assisted suicide is that they tend to be directed towards individuals with a poor quality of life.

Thats not a problem at all. It is the very intent.

However, just because quality of life is poor, does not mean that individual has a life that is of less moral value than a person whose quality of life is normal.

This is the entire premise you build on your argument, which is more of an opinion piece than anything else. Most of the logic doesn't even make sense, especially the last paragraph. >


I don't see a problem with this as long as family members agree that is the best procedure to follow for the person.

Yeah thats the issue here. I'm totally fine with it so long as the patient can consciously consent to it themselves however, allowing a family member to consent to it on their behalf can be dangerous. The main thing we worry about here is a family member choosing to have their family member euthanized for other, more nefarious reasons. >

Sorry when I put that statement I meant both parties had to consent. >

Oh gotcha, well in that case we are in agreement >

I do agree with medically assisted suicide to some degree if the person has a terminal illness and is suffering, but I can’t get behind letting people die because of mental illness. I myself have a couple of mental disorders and at one point thought about suicide, but it’s not that I wanted to die I just wanted to go to sleep so I be feeling less. I wanted to live but why would I want to live a life of pain and suffering? My thoughts were dark and hopeless and for a lot of people these irrational thoughts overcome them. When someone is in that much distress they are not thinking clearly. It’s hard to see solutions when you are in distress. People that want medically assisted suicide are more often than not terminally ill patients. There is no more hope for them and only pain. People with mental illnesses have hope. Situations you’re in and emotions you’re feeling are never permanent. People that are terminal fight everyday just for death to overcome them either way. People with mental illness, in my personal experience and opinion, start off fighting and slowly let their guard down and expose their weakest points. They stop fighting even when they see the light at the end of the tunnel. Don’t let death overcome you. There’s always a way out besides taking your life. And these words don’t mean much to people when they’re in it, but trust me if you get through the fight it’ll open you up to some great wisdom and healing. There are many medications and different therapies one can try to better their mental illness. People with mental illnesses are some what terminal in a way. These things don’t go away, but with therapy and medication and self care it can be managed greatly.