Thoughts on assisted suicide?

[IAmSad]

If someone with a fixed and steady purpose of mind knows that they want to die, I don't see why we should stop them. Your own life is one of the few things that you actually have some amount of control over in your life.

 

[DuckSucker]

If you're 25 and able bodied do it yourself if you're that into it.

There are any number of websites with detailed and accurate instructions on how to do it effectively, painlessly, and quickly.

Source pls.

 

[AnOminous]

Source pls.

The old ASH methods file among others descended from it. Also the exit bag method. Or soft hanging. Google any of those. Or go here: http://lostallhope.com/suicide-methods

It's not like any of this stuff is hard to find.

 

[StraightShooter]

No, but if a person decides to put a gun to their head, I believe their corpse should not be arrested and charged with murder for killing itself.

 

[Sicko Hunter]

If someone is in severe pain from a fatal illness I don't see why we should make them suffer on this planet. It seems cruel to me. Now assited suicide for depression I don't really know...

 

[ICametoLurk]

How much of a loser are you if you can't even kill yourself and need someone else to do it for you?

 

[AF 802]

Came up on my mind today, figured I'd post.

I think so, yes. But not just in cases of illness. If one of your life choices has made life irrationally hard and you honestly do not think you can recover (i.e, criminal charge that prevents landing a job/rent/credit), or illness not specifically caused at birth, but by others maldoings, then yes, you should be able to ask for help ending your life. It should, however, be like how we used to do with those who wanted to transition to the opposite gender and ask them to really consider it (before you know, asking to consider mutilating your body before doing it wasn't PC anymore). I'd imagine there's quite a few people I know online and in real life who are considering taking their lives right now. So yeah, if you meet some sort of legit criteria that fits that generic statement, go ahead.

 

[PorcupineTree]

Lol. My mom unironically asked me to kill her if she ever develops dementia.

I don’t think I’d be able to do it and I’d be suspicious anyone who could tune out the instinct to not kill family, especially when incentives like inheritance are almost always in the picture.

I get it though. I’ve wished for death over non-lethal illnesses simply because the experience is so unpleasant. I don’t want to know what a real natural death feels like.

If this were some fantasy world where corruption wasn’t possible then assisted suicide should absolutely be a thing.

 

[Kaiser Wilhelm's Ghost]

I personally think that it should be allowed with the following controls in place.

The person in question must be of sound mind in order to make the decision, and must be suffering from a degenerative disease that will reduce the quality of life over a period of extended time.

It should be allowed apply for people suffering from mental health issues or the elderly who are suffering from things like Alzheimer's or dementia or other such health concerns, but only after a long extended period in which the person is tested and in the case of mental health patients agrees to undergo all alternative treatments before being given the green light.

 

[penny__lane]

This is coming from someone who needs three new organs and a lot of health issues starting at age 7, I've thought about assisted suicide a lot.

I live with a few people who really do care about me and my husband shares the same chronic illness as me, his condition just hasn't been as severe for him and he was diagnosed later in life.

When I was younger I was fascinated by assisted suicide-- I didn't even know it was an option for people like me. I always just came to the conclusion that if I don't get a transplant and end up completely terminal, I'll off myself.

After a few near-death experiences and being lost twice in the hospital, I decided that I wanted to live as long as possible. It struck a deep fear of death into me when I thought I had already accepted a premature death or suicide.

I have recently come upon more chronic illnesses, more health issues, more autoimmune disorders. I might have a few good days each month where I can really function or even go to the store, not even by myself. I've lost most of my independence and can't drive anymore after having a bunch of seizures. I almost had to drop out of college and changed my major so I can hopefully work at home and it's broken my heart. I was going to go to med school and have to spend another two years at college because of this huge change. I went from 18 hour semesters to 12 hour semesters but I experience small amounts of lucidity and can't really go to lectures anymore, so I'm taking classes online. I miss functioning like a normal human.

I constantly think about offing myself at this point. This isn't a life. When someone gets to a point where they have to change their entire life because of their illness and don't have much quality of life but are still able to say that they want assisted suicided-- I think they should be able to go through with it. I've just flipped around too much to do it at this point. If I get my transplant my life will improve a lot, so I'm just waiting.

TL;DR
It's cruel to keep people around when they don't want to be here, especially if they're dealing with 24/7 illness. Assisted suicide is death with dignity-- going out and succumbing to your illness isn't ideal, especially for those who are headstrong.

 

[Gorillagorillagorilla]

I'm fine with it. Like if u have a 20 year old tiger at the zoo that can't eat and is getting weaker by the minute, the zoo puts it down to save the poor cat the pain. I think human beings deserve the same right to a quick relief.

 

[queerape]

If we grant the dignity of euthanasia to our pets, I don’t see why we shouldn’t grant it to ourselves. If I were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s for instance, and assisted suicide were an option, I would take it and go out before any real degeneration sets in and people can remember for who I am.

This of course, assumes that by the time I am old enough to get Alzheimer’s, it will still be an incurable and invariably fatal degenerative disease. I am young enough that by the time I actually reach that age, Alzheimer’s could well be preventable, treatable, reversible or even curable in the early stage.

 

[Lopt]

I would recommend a watch, you'll hate that person just as much as you think you're going to, but you also get to watch them get skittish and back out in the end after talking it up the whole time.

Ironic she actually went through with it this year, according to that video's update. Wonder what the straw that broke the camel's back was?

 

[KerryDixon9]

In general I'm for it. Life is your own and if you don't want it you should have the option to end it.

The problem though is what happens after you have this right. In 2016 the US had 45,000 suicides. If assisted suicide was brought in and the rate doubles then it's going to get scrapped straight away. But even that could be opening Pandora's Box because the numbers could still rise.

But it could work to massively lower the rate of suicide as well. You could have 20,000 deaths by assisted suicide and it could decimate failed suicide bids as well. If 45,000 people are killing themselves a year then the number of attempts is probably going to be between 300k and 500k a year.

Autists have a high rate of suicide. Should it be made compulsory for them?

 

[Dolphin Lundgren]

I never really thought of this until I had a family member suffer a terminal illness. If the choice was either go to a hospice where you slowly die or end it peacefully and quick with assisted suicide, I think it should be allowed. I can see why people with a terminal illness who know they won't get better would choose the other way out. As for other people who want it, I have no opinion on them.

 

[KerryDixon9]

If I get my transplant my life will improve a lot, so I'm just waiting.

A side effect of assisted suicide could be that a healthy person who doesn't want to live can pretty much act as an organ donor to seriously ill people who only want to die because of their illness.

But that path leads down to billionaires buying the lives of poor people who sacrifice themselves to help their families.

 

[Slap47]

It should be legal and people should be able to do it for any reason they want.

Even children should have the right to this most basic of things. Parents shouldn't be able to force their kids to suffer for their own sick amusement.

 

[spurger king]

What if you assisted someone in committing suicide but they didn't wanna die?

 

[Jaded Optimist]

My aunt used euthanasia to pass last year in holland. She had a brain tumour and besides the fact that she was dying, she always was no longer able to due her passion (painting) anymore.

The weirdest thing as a relative was knowing when exactly she was going to die. Her extended family was able to take the time to talk to her or write her letters which was nice, but it was a strange thing to process. My mom called me at the time that my aunt was in the moment of passing and it made her feel better to talk about it while it was happening.

 

[lowkey]

What if you assisted someone in committing suicide but they didn't wanna die?

Just make sure you do it well and nobody will find out.

---

Seriously though, I remember the documentary where Terry Pratchett watched someone receive assisted suicide, maybe in switzerland or something because it was illegal in the UK.

Was pretty strange to see a man drink a deadly drink and then die in the arms of a caregiver. He seemed to reach out for the glass of water after he drank it, and she stopped him. This is probably pure projection but it seemed like last second regret to me. But with that said, I would probably only assist the suicide of the people that I know most intimately and only if it's been built to over a long period of time, where there is no shred of doubt in my mind of what their motivations are like.