[wagglebee]

What is needed there is not so much a physician as a notary, or a judge, to provide for the due process and minimize abuses. Hence the need for legal framework.

Why is euthanasia "needed" at all?

[GSlob]

For the same reason as everything else done or available: because there are willing consumers, and who are you [or me] to impede their choice? The abuse to be prevented [as an example, nothing personal] is if you want to commit your suicide while owing me, say, $100 [or having any other unsatisfied contractual obligation, not necessarily to me] - and without paying your debt or making the provisions to pay it in your will. Thus the need for the due process and for a judge to sign off.