Applying the Legal Principle
- Competent adults own themselves.
- When a competent adult voluntarily contracts with another competent adult for assistance to end their own life, called euthanasia otherwise known as assisted suicide. There is no breach of the Legal Principle. Just as the right to trade includes the right not to trade, the right to live includes the right not to live.
- Just as we all live and must let others live, we all die and must let others die when it is their choice to do so. In certain circumstances, living without the freedom to die is akin to slavery.
- When a depressed or otherwise ill adult wants to end their life, determining legal competency is key to ensuring this process is lawful–the local community must define competency with the utmost care.