The Right to Die

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Do human beings have the right to die?

In Oregon and Washington Physician-assisted suicide is legal, however it is only done to the terminally ill.

Why stop there?

Should fully-competent patients with locked-in syndromes, quadriplegias, and other forms of extreme disability, specifically in cases where these victims express an ongoing and rational desire to die, but are physically incapable of ending their own lives, have the right to die?

What about everyone? Should the right to die go along with the right to live (Not talking about abortions here, don't steer in that directing).

What is your view on suicide in general?

The world is overpopulated. If you're willing to help by removing yourself, go ahead.

Well I've always said that if worse comes to worse then I'm up for a quick and painless suicide as long as I have an assistant who knows what they're doing.

I worked in a residential care watching old people and mental cases strapped to a bed connected to a bunch of tubes. Most of which these people being gone or unable to walk or live life normally again. I vowed to myself that if that should happen to me, I want to be put down. I've seen these people either brain dead or suffering. As much as I was annoyed in having to constantly keep them down and force feed them as well as listen to their moanings, groanings, paranoia, etc....I still saw myself in them. One reason why I could not get why nurses who's job it was to assist these people by keeping them alive, couldn't stand them. A natural attitude when your life is constantly revolved around them I know. But I for one, had some pity in that most of these people were shells of people they once were.

So, I've made my mind up, I want to be euthanized if my condition is spending the rest of my life in a bed with severe pain and confusion. I had to watch my great great grandma live like this.

I guess the down side to this is....there may be cases in which people want someone dead who didn't ask for it or people deciding the value of someone's life themselves.

As for suicidal tendencies from depression or condition. I'm not very fond of that because I was one of those people. I'm glad I was saved and got the counseling I did. It wasn't easy and sometimes we want to escape for stupid reasons until it's too late. I look back the suicidal attempts were stupid and for silly reasons.

Anyway, too many pros and cons. The trouble with this is, once a person is dead, there's no going back.

Who can tell when a mind is competent enough to make that decision? Decisions made under terrible duress are not always wise.

And who can measure something like "competent enough to make that decision"? Who shall we call the wise as well?

If the argument is like that, then it seems that we must either categorically accept it, or categorically reject it. And what standards will be invoked? After all, one person who commits suicide when they should have lived when 999999 people commit suicide when it is the correct option doesn't seem like grounds for disallowing suicide to all. But there is some form of mental line, as agnosticism isn't grounds for action.

I reserve the right to off myself if the game isn't worth the candle.

They will put your dog down to save him pain and suffering. That is a "kindness".

But if you are a quadriplegic suffering from terminal cancer they will make you suffer every moment till your last gasp.

I am not disallowing the decision, merely indicating the very immense difficulty of being sure it's right. Neither you nor others who consider themselves expert can be absolutely sure that such an irrevocable decision is correct. I spent 30 years keeping my quadriplegic son alive and he tremendously enjoyed his very constricted life where he had to operate his computer with a stick in his mouth. I frequently encountered callous people who disdained my son's existence so I am well experienced in the matter.

Another thing you could argue is the double standard in which it is ok to kill a healthy animal because no one will adopt it yet put children in foster homes that may turn out abusive.

Not saying what is wrong but I find it odd how humans tend to put themselves first and foremost even if it involves saving the life of another being who is in pain or doesn't want to live. Yet most of this stuff is reserved for animals and not because they are always in pain but because we can't afford it yet we can afford to keep a dying person on life support.

Excuse me for sounding dumb, but what does agnosticism have to do with this?

Yes, I completely agree, I think in the majority of cases yes the right to die should exist along with the right to live. However, there are so many particular exceptions to this rule, that make me question it......as is the case for those who have occasional episodes of major depression and may want to die at a certain point, but come out of their depression, grateful for their lives, and leading happy productive lives....... This is SUCH a complicated issue.

One of the complications which is particularly disturbing is to consider humans as production machines which a capitalistic society is prone to do. Labor is merely one of the elements in the means of production and the basic value that each human finds in remaining alive and enjoying it is discounted from an economic point of view. People, such as myself, way beyond the level of acceptability for current employment standards are considered as a luxurious waste of resources whatever their capabilities. Once people close to death are accepted as dispatchable as expensive luxuries we are next in line to be shuffled off this mortal coil and relegated to the garbage pile as junk machinery. This is a threat I don't appreciate.

All human beings are going to die. The correct question is: do human beings have the right to commit suicide either directly or hiring someone to put them to death. The answer to that question is -- YES. A mentally competent human being is the owner of his life and his time. He should be able to seek to either support his life, if he wishes to go on living, or to end his life if he does not.

ruveyn

Suicide should be a capital offense.

Ironically, as a Christian, I believe it is nobody else's business what you choose to do with your own life.

I don't support people wanting to kill themselves (when there is nothing wrong with them). I do support people allowing themselves to die (via refusing medical care, etc.).

I see no sensibility in making it a "crime" to kill yourself. I do not support the idea of a doctor helping someone to deliberately take their own life because (1) they take an oath to do no harm, and (2) I see it as a slippery slope that could lead to doctors being authorized (or ordered) to encourage people to take their life because they have been classified as "unworthy" for preservation.

On the issue of it being "sin," I believe end of life choices that violate what would happen naturally (abortion/suicide) is man's asserting his will over that of God (who ordains when it is time for such things to happen). I've seen people with horrible situations choose to live for as long as it is meant to be, and they die with a certain dignity with that conviction. I cannot judge the soul of those who chose to end their own life or speculate as to what might be the consequence in any "hereafter" that follows.

Growing up, I frequently debated ending my own life because of the suffering I went through, but I never justified doing it.

Even for people who regard their right to live or die as inviolable the crux of the problem lies in whether the decision is made voluntarily by a sound mind. Some people would argue that a decision to commit suicide itself indicates an unsound mind. And of course, there is the suspicion that economics might enter the decision in a big way and once the floodgates are open to putting people to death for questionable motives there will be no stopping it. It seems very likely that there are extenuating circumstances which would sensibly lead a sound mind to decide to die but it seems an exceedingly difficult situation and there is no obvious way to simplify it.

Euthanasia is wrong. Killing yourself is wrong. I'm glad it is illegal in certain places.
Humans have no right to take there own lives only God has that right.