Suicide: Should A Person Have The Right To Kill Themselves?

Pretty simple...

Is it wrong? Right? Should a person have the right to kill themselves?

 

I'm all for voluntary euthanasia, if that's what you're referring to. On medical grounds only, though. All those who elect this option ought to have a psych evaluation to make sure they're of sound mind etc. Just as happens (or is supposed to happen) before significant plastic surgery and the like. I wouldn't like to see these important medical tools abused by those who would be better served by therapy.

As for it being a 'right', I would suggest that no one can stop you. And yes, I believe it's wrong when not medical suicide. Wrong in the sense that there is no emotional disorder which can't be corrected, at least partially, or temporarily, so suicide is not the best tool for the job. Terminal, inoperable, advanced cancer is another matter entirely. Complete disability and physical dependence due to degenerate disease, ditto.

 

Is suicide an emotional disorder, or an escape from emotionally/physically destructive/oppressive situations?

 

It's not a disorder at all, it's an act.

I just don't hold with it as a solution to emotional problems. There are far better management tools available. Unlike advanced inoperable cancer.

 

Suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take or leave it
If I please

 

Yes.....

the law only punishes people that fail to kill themselves

.

 

What if the emotions are just the reaction to some brutal reality the person cannot escape?

 

You mean like something outside their control? Like being held captive and/or tortured? In that case I would think it's reasonable. Interesting thing is that few (if any) in such circumstances do. Most will fight til the last to stay alive. Still, killing yourself because of the emotions, rather than the circumstances which gave rise to the emotions, is idiotic. That's like killing yourself because chemo makes you nauseous, not because you have cancer.

 

What an individual does with their own property and life is up to them....as long as it does not physically damage anyone else.

 

Taking one's own life for whatever reason is a human's ultimate right. If the government has the right to deny life, then every human also has that right.

 

Suicide (when not medically motivated as per voluntary euthanasia) does untold damage to those left behind. They will almost certainly be plagued by guilt for the duration of their lives. It's so far beyond cruel that there aren't words for it.

 

So does losing a loved one in War, so does losing a loved one to Cancer, so does losing a loved one in an auto accident...what is your point.

 

Are you kidding? You seriously can't see any difference?

ALL grief hurts, but when you have the wilfully imposed burden of thinking you could have prevented it in any number of small ways, it's going to suck about ten times harder. It really is the most horrible thing you could possibly do to people you claim to love. And yes, I think people with suicidal ideation should suck it up for the sake of those people. "Suffering" be damned. Find a cause no one else wants to take up because it's too difficult and commit the life you don't want to that. Your loved ones wont be punished and you may well save other lives. Do that til your body gives out then kill yourself.

 

You mean like something outside their control? Like being held captive and/or tortured? In that case I would think it's reasonable. Interesting thing is that few (if any) in such circumstances do. Most will fight til the last to stay alive. Still, killing yourself because of the emotions, rather than the circumstances which gave rise to the emotions, is idiotic. That's like killing yourself because chemo makes you nauseous, not because you have cancer.

 

The law should remain silent on the issue. It should not condone it nor penalize it.

Legalizing it, including assisted suicide is fought with dangerous unintended consequence.

Bright shining lines, don't extinguish human life. Leave the law as it is related to seconds and third parties.

Cheers
Labour

 

Near death experiencer Christian Andreason in chapter 8 of his book does a brilliant job of covering how several centuries in the future we will look quite differently at the question of preserving our lives even at the cost of millions of dollars in equipment and specialized assistance.

http://www.allaboutchristian.com/spirituality/

 

Any form of death, I imagine, will do some degree of harm to those left behind. However, for the person in particular, should he prioritize the feelings of people around him over himself. I've been thinking about that because some people believe that suicide is "selfish". In that sense, one can say that the sucicde is selfsih for not putting his personal pain and torments over the sensibilities of others. However, on the other side, if a person kills himself and other people are merely concerned or angered about how their feelings are hurt, rather than wondering or discussing the feelings of the person who just committed suicide, it could be seen as a perverse, selfish reaction on the part of such people.

I imagine killing yourself is not easy and their is a natural revultion towards the act, meaning that a person who commits suicide has been brought to that point where they have been entertaining it, teasing it, going through the motions for who knows however many nights, or how long. Many people have long histories of suicidal tendencies so they been battling this thing for quiet some time but at some point something pushes them past that natural fear of death. While I can emapthize with the relatives of the suicide victim I do not, personally, hold their feelings above that of the suicide.

Well...for some it is external, but for others internal. Some emotions are hard to negotiate, like depression. Depression assaults a person in a variety of forms, but in all cases it seems to erode the meaning of life and the will to live for that person. Depression, also, seems inherent, but equally beyond the control of the person. In a sense, either depression is an emotion or a condition that heavily influences emotions to the negative. If you think about it, a lot of your motions are not really voluntary. You can't really decide when to be happy, you have to be happy to be happy.

So...I can see how darker emotions may grow to effect a person beyond their control. But more so, it may be a combination of dark emotions and dark experiences, or maybe those dark emotions in some way brings on the dark experiences one will go through. Hard to narrow down, but you get my meaning...

 

This is emotional damage....should we also prohibit bad relationship breakups, perhaps drug abuse, child abuse.....these things occur regularly and are much more emotionally destructive.

 

For the successful ones, insurance companies won't pay out life insurance.

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How about emotionally, as in family and close friends?

 

Why should someone feel guilty for another person's acts? If they want to they can clean up the mess but they are not obligated to do so. And just remember that one day you might find yourself in a similar situation.

 

This is a simple issue, but in order to decide it another question needs to be answered. Who owns you?
Do you have ownership of your own body and your own life?
Once that question has been resolved, then the "right" to commit suicide is clear.

 

your right, the law wont punish those successful, but insurance companies will punish their loved ones because of their disability

course in your elder years, your not as likely to have coverage anyways

.

 

Suicide is what happens when mental illness goes terminal. Nobody wants to die, it's just that sometimes the horrible pain of mental illness is so overwhelming that not existing becomes preferable to existing.

 

When a kid wants to commit suicide and has not even lived yet....you do everything you can to help them including Institutionalizing them.

When a person who is by disease, age or by accident or by violence....damaged beyond reasonable repair...they should be allowed to have the choice to end their lives in the most comfortable and peaceful way possible.

For those that disagree I can only say that I KNOW....through experience....there are worse things than dying.

AboveAlpha

 

Rights are a moot point when applied to suicide because if one is determined to die there is not much that can be done to stop them.