Poll: How do you feel about assisted suicide?

[JimB]

I support a right to suicide, under the belief that only I know if my life is worth living and only you know if your life is worth living. However, the decision to end your own life is a decision that can only be made under duress, and I don't know how the medical profession could institute ethical guidelines to provide fatal services to a patient whose ability to consent is, by definition, a legitimate question.

If someone can propose a way to get around the problem of informed consent, then I'm all for it.

 

[DeltaEdge]

If it is under legal circumstance, then I have no problem with it(Well, that's what I'd like to think anyways), otherwise, I wouldn't do it. I'm not really morally against it, but I do want to protect myself legally so I'm not suddenly a murderer. I guess there'd be some scenarios where I'd question whether or not they should be offing themselves, like if they are a fairly young person and are going through a rough patch in their lives and don't have the will to see it through, but possibly haven't exhausted all their options to change their circumstances, but then again, that could potentially apply to people of many ages.

Basically, I have no idea really after thinking about it. It's much clearer when it's someone who's old, on life support, and suffering, but not as much so with someone with a significant amount of life left when I don't know the entirety of their situation and their options.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

I do not agree with assisted suicide. If you can't do it yourself, you don't deserve the right to die. Nothing that worth doing should just be handed to someone. They should have to work for it. And if they are so pathetic that they can't manage it themselves, then they should just kill themselves because they are worthless.

Only exception being seppuku with the assistance of a kaishakunin.

You do realise that some of these people are immobile, bed-ridden vegetables, right?

 

[DishonoredElderSouls]

I dislike the binary decision here, but I voted "No." Assisted suicide is only acceptable if the person in question has a sound mind, is very heavily encumbered in their existence, and have at least received some degree of counseling to see if they can have their mind changed.

There's almost always something of value to be found in life; it's difficult to see sometimes but it's there. Unless someone is completely physically and/or mentally incapable of appreciating that beauty, I don't see what at least trying to circumvent the option of death with other forms of assistance could harm.

EDIT: To clarify, though, if someone is an absolute vegetable, I do support assisted suicide. That, I feel, is completely reasonable.

 

[Aramis Night]

I do not agree with assisted suicide. If you can't do it yourself, you don't deserve the right to die. Nothing that worth doing should just be handed to someone. They should have to work for it. And if they are so pathetic that they can't manage it themselves, then they should just kill themselves because they are worthless.

Only exception being seppuku with the assistance of a kaishakunin.

You do realise that some of these people are immobile, bed-ridden vegetables, right?

Why do you want to kill vegetables? Unless this is your way of getting around being a vegetarian with cannibalistic urges. I see. You just want a "salad".

 

[L. Declis]

You see, I am a fan of it, in theory, but I fully understand why, in the UK at least, it isn't legal.

Reason 1: There is a danger that family members who wish for inheritance or simply find the ailing person too troubling will pressure the ill person to suicide.

Reason 2: If the person is unable to talk, it means that the power of life and death may be left with someone who has opposing views on such matters than the person. Death isn't reversable (until I discover my Beyond Two Souls machine)

Reason 3: It may ask medical personal to act against personal beliefs, and there are interpretation of "do no harm" which include for some doctors, suicide.

Reason 4: Once we start agreeing life can be cut short actively, our publicly funded NHS may decide that "Oh, your life is too expensive to keep, so we're going to cut it short before it gets REALLY expensive!" It's already capped at around £30,000 a year.

Reason 5: There is a moral assumption that the lives of the sick or ill are worth less than others if we limit it to only those, or we are going to open it up to everyone?

Reason 6: What is mental competency? If we simply euthanize everyone who said they wanted to die, Tumblr would be empty in days.

Reason 7: If people become ill, legalising it will let people start treating those who are ill worse, as there is no longer the need to try and treat them properly, as well as reduce the need to comfort the dying, who are simply "not doing it efficiently"

Reason 8: People who are estranged from family may feel it as their only option.

So for the above reason, I feel it would be far too difficult and messy to regulate properly, and that it would open up a whole mess of legal, moral and philosophical problems to be ever usable in the grey shaded human society.

 

[JoJo]

...

Honestly though, I think any individual should be legally allowed to commit suicide (it's actually illegal)...

No it isn't, at-least not in the UK or U.S., legalisation which criminalised people who attempt suicide was repealed decades ago. Of course, it's still illegal to assist another person's suicide and the authorities will try hard not to let you commit suicide, if that's what you mean.

 

[Mylinkay Asdara]

I am only in support of assisted suicide when the person who wishes to end their life has a) strong medical/quality of life reasons for wanting to depart from life b) the person is incapacitated by those reasons and can not accomplish the task independently and c) the person has given appropriate time and thought to their decision and can present their argument in sound mind for their choice.

My mother was diagnosed with MS 25 years ago and there have been times where her suffering has been such that she signed Do Not Resuscitate orders and a ban on "heroic measures" being taken to preserve her life in the event of a terminal downturn, so this issue is one I have been thinking about since my mid-childhood. Of course, I don't want her to die, and I was very upset by her decision as her daughter - but I do understand that her quality of life is extremely limited by her disease and will continue to diminish. So far, she's hanging in there - although I suspect a "fall" that she took a few years back getting out of her wheelchair was probably an attempt at suicide during a period of extreme depression (she doesn't talk about it). I don't know what I would do if she ever made "the request" - being that she's my mom for crying out loud - but I understand that sometimes people reach that point where life really doesn't seem worth living because they lack the access to life that the rest of us enjoy and the basic things we take for granted.

I do not support the removal of people from life support unless they have previously made their wishes in that event very clear to friends and family. I do not support the state being involved in such decisions, either way.

When I was 13, as the "oldest grandchild" I was given the choice of keeping my grandfather on or taking him off life support after a heart-surgery went wrong. I decided he would not want to live in a vegetative state - and it was hard for me, terribly hard, but later - going through his effects, they found a "living will" that stated his wishes and that helped a lot with the guilt.

I've made my wishes clear, in writing, that should I enter a permanent, vegetative state that I do not want to be kept in that state for an unreasonable amount of time without hope of recovery. Most of my family and friends feel the same way.

It's a hard question, when you're looking at a real situation, but morally I don't see as many complications as some people do: our life, our choice is my stance on suicide in general. Doesn't make it a great choice, doesn't mean I encourage it, but as far as the right goes - I say people have the right to determine their own course.

 

[OneCatch]

I do not agree with assisted suicide. If you can't do it yourself, you don't deserve the right to die. Nothing that worth doing should just be handed to someone. They should have to work for it. And if they are so pathetic that they can't manage it themselves, then they should just kill themselves because they are worthless.

Only exception being seppuku with the assistance of a kaishakunin.

Ignoring for a moment the rather offensive charges of worthlessness and pathetic-ness, why on earth would you exclude Seppuku?
Or is this a rather poor-taste joke?

 

[Aramis Night]

I do not agree with assisted suicide. If you can't do it yourself, you don't deserve the right to die. Nothing that worth doing should just be handed to someone. They should have to work for it. And if they are so pathetic that they can't manage it themselves, then they should just kill themselves because they are worthless.

Only exception being seppuku with the assistance of a kaishakunin.

Ignoring for a moment the rather offensive charges of worthlessness and pathetic-ness, why on earth would you exclude Seppuku?
Or is this a rather poor-taste joke?

What is wrong with Seppuku? I think it's equal parts beautiful, and bad ass. I just think it's qualities as a form of assisted suicide warrant an exception. Otherwise, you should be on your own in such an endeavor.

 

[Erttheking]

Only if the person who wants to kill himself is of sound mind, you know, a position like a person bed ridden and is just ticking off the days till they dies in pain. Not if they're depressed.

 

[OneCatch]

I do not agree with assisted suicide. If you can't do it yourself, you don't deserve the right to die. Nothing that worth doing should just be handed to someone. They should have to work for it. And if they are so pathetic that they can't manage it themselves, then they should just kill themselves because they are worthless.

Only exception being seppuku with the assistance of a kaishakunin.

Ignoring for a moment the rather offensive charges of worthlessness and pathetic-ness, why on earth would you exclude Seppuku?
Or is this a rather poor-taste joke?

What is wrong with Seppuku? I think it's equal parts beautiful, and bad ass. I just think it's qualities as a form of assisted suicide warrant an exception. Otherwise, you should be on your own in such an endeavor.

I think it's in equal parts stupid and irresponsible; you're wasting your own, presumably healthy, self (in addition to any further potential usefulness to your cause - or society as a whole - if you were so inclined) over some stupidly rigid definition of honour.
But that's just my opinion.

What I'm interested in is your logical or moral argument to excusing it from your own standards to other forms of assisted suicide - surely assisted suicide is assisted suicide whether it's a doctor, nurse, relative, or squire actually performing the act?
Surely worthlessness is worthlessness, regardless of whether it's caused by a degenerative disease or by an angsty ritual disembowelment?
In fact, if anything the Seppuku practitioner is presumably less deserving of help, because they've stuck a sword in their own gut; are the architect of their own entirely unnecessary agony.
Which can't be said about someone who's been struck down by a debilitating disease through no fault of their own.

 

[Private Custard]

I voted, and was glad to see that the vast majority of us are on the side of 'sensible'.

Honestly, I think we're kinder to animals. People will do everything in their power to keep someone alive that'd rather die, while they suffer constantly. It's a bit sadistic to be honest.

Case-in-point...

Tony Nicklinson, suffering 'locked-in syndrome', pictured after his right to die fight had been thrown out by the courts.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20570785

Just fucking wrong. The courts were absolute cunts to him.

 

[floppylobster]

I have no problem loading the gun, handing them the pills, putting the switch within their reach. But if they can't do it themselves, I'm not doing it for them. While you might feel okay about it at the time, those things come back to haunt you as you come closer to your own death.

 

[Best of the 3]

Not gonna lie, some of the replies in this thread borderline on sickening to me. There are too many variables for a yes and no, so I'll just leave it at; it depends.

Now for fuck sake, somebody make a happy thread, so much angsty crap around lately.

 

[senordesol]

The potential for abuse is what terrifies me about such a notion. The old and the sick can often be treated as sub-human. Certainly ending lives/discontinuing life support has got to be easier than prolonging life (even if living is that person's wish).

DNRs are a given, and the specifics of euthanasia can be pretty cut and dry on a case-by-case individual basis; but the larger social implications of 'killing as a service'...particularly in places of healing...make me pause to say the least.

Again, this isn't a matter of taking someone off LS; it's about giving license to kill another person - to mix up that lethal cocktail and stick it in. Jesus, life's tough enough for hospital interns (oh, and just imagine the inevitable screw-ups; wrong dose, wrong patient, mislabels...eesh).

 

[Aesir23]

I definitely support it but only under certain conditions. Measures would have to be in place to keep such a system from being abused, after all.

However, if a person is of sound mind and they're just going to spend the remainder of their lives, however long or short that may be, in constant suffering then I think they should be allowed to choose such a thing. In cases where they're not of sound mind (like Alzheimer's or Dementia) then I imagine such a wish would have to be made legally known beforehand, sort of similar to signing a Do Not Resuscitate form.

We euthanize our beloved pets when things are bad enough so that they don't have to suffer. Yet when a person wants that for themselves in the face of an untreatable or incurable illness our reaction is just to say "tough cookies, deal with it"? That just seems wrong and outright cruel. Especially so for those who may be suffering from a degenerative illness.

 

[DishonoredElderSouls]

Why is it that most everybody is accepting these simple black and white choices? I cannot understand why this poll is binary. Simply providing a generalized "Yes" and "No" to a topic with so many caveats and shades of grey, not to mention focusing on whether a human life will go on existing, absolutely does not work.

Notice how the implementation of a poll has almost exclusively lead to single isolated responses rather than an actual ongoing discussion between people. YES, there are instances in which assisted suicide has its place, and is the humane thing to do. NO, not every situation in which it could be used is actually suitable for assisted suicide.

This thread has mostly consisted of a very skewered division of an outlook, and while I respect other peoples' opinions, why not focus on exploring and understanding more of this subject rather than regurgitating our formerly established beliefs? We're on a forum, after all.

 

[Padwolf]

To be honest it can be done with dignity, and I agree with it. It's their lives, it's their choice. I think it's awful when someone truly wants to die, but has to go through so many court hearings to be able to do so and get rejected. It means that person has to live in pain and suffering for a lot longer than they need to

Also, I will probably get flamed to hell for the comparison. But what do we do to our pets that are sitting in pain and agony, or have a problem that cannot be helped any longer? We have them put down, we don't want our pets, who are like our family, to go on suffering for months on end, maybe years. So why do we not give humans that option? I know, I know, they are not the same thing, and really comparing the two is opening up all sorts of bad air, but I feel the principle behind it is the same. The choice should never be forced on someone, but the option for it should be there.

snippidy

That's the case I was thinking of when I saw this thread. I remember following it, and to be honest it just moved me to tears when the courts rejected him. I thought they were absolutely disgusting to him about it.