Euthanasia & assisted suicide

Why is it an issue?
People have many different reasons for wanting to end their life by committing suicide:
Some are severely depressed over a long interval. To them, suicide may be a "permanent solution to a temporary problem." There is a consensus that a better solution for most clinically depressed people is treatment, using counseling and/or medication. Such treatment can give to the person decades of enjoyable life which would have been lost if they committed suicide.
They live in excessive, chronic pain. Some, due to poverty or lack of health-care coverage cannot afford pain killing medication. Others are denied adequate pain killers because of their physician's lack of knowledge, inadequate training, or specific beliefs. Most physicians feel that suicide in such cases is not a preferred solution either; a better approach is proper management of pain through medication. There appears to be a lack of collective will to make this happen. Many, perhaps most, people die in excessive, though treatable, pain.
They have a terminal illness and do not want to diminish their assets by incurring large medical costs as their death approaches. As an act of generosity, they would rather die sooner, and pass on their assets to their beneficiaries.
A serious disorder or disease has adversely effected their quality of life to the point where they no longer wish to continue living.
They have been diagnosed with a degenerative, progressive illness like ALS, Huntington's Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, AIDS, Alzheimer's etc. They fear a gradual loss of the quality of life in the future as the disease or disorder progresses.
They have lost their independence and must be cared for continually. Some feel that this causes an unacceptable loss of personal dignity.
They realize that they will be dying in the near future and simply want to have total control over the process.
Some are concerned about the future and want to have suicide available as an option.
Some people who decide that they wish to commit suicide are unable to accomplish the act. They need assistance from their physician. Physician assisted suicide helps them die under conditions and at the time that they wish. PAS is currently legal, under severe restrictions, only in the American state of Oregon and in the Netherlands. In other jurisdictions, they are forced to continue living against their wish, until their body eventually collapses, or until a family member or friend commits a criminal act by helping them commit suicide.
An analysis of the first full year of the availability of assisted suicide in Oregon showed that relatively few people requested help in dying. Some were probably deterred by the resistance of their physician. Only 23 actually obtained medication to induce their death. At least six of the 23 never used the pills, but died a natural death.