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You are describing depression. Depressed people should get help. Old and sick people should be allowed assisted suicide.
There's only so much good help can do for a person. A pep talk won't magically rewire their brain especially if they are set in their ways. For some people change seems impossible. For some people they can't dig themselves out of it. Especially if they are obese or physically disabled in some way... Anyone should be able to do it for any reason.
There's only so much good help can do for a person. A pep talk won't magically rewire their brain especially if they are set in their ways. For some people change seems impossible. For some people they can't dig themselves out of it. Especially if they are obese or physically disabled in some way... Anyone should be able to do it for any reason.
I agree a pep talk does nothing to help depression. But I believe a person should seek medical help for depression before giving up. There are meds that can help one pull out of the worst of the depression, at least to the point where they can start to think clearly. Not a be all and end all, but a first step.
So yes, a person should seek help for depression before considering suicide.
I agree a pep talk does nothing to help depression. But I believe a person should seek medical help for depression before giving up. There are meds that can help one pull out of the worst of the depression, at least to the point where they can start to think clearly. Not a be all and end all, but a first step.
So yes, a person should seek help for depression before considering suicide.
Maybe, but your individual stance on seeking psychiatric/medical help before ending YOUR life should not nullify self-ownership.
You own you. If you want to end your life or don't, it's YOUR life to do with as you please. Same for every individual in existence. You do not own others, nor possess a higher a claim on their lives than they do such that you can dictate whether they can or cannot do whatever they want with their own life.
Self-ownership. You believe in it, or you don't. No in between.
Maybe, but your individual stance on seeking psychiatric/medical help before ending YOUR life should not nullify self-ownership.
You own you. If you want to end your life or don't, it's YOUR life to do with as you please. Same for every individual in existence. You do not own others, nor possess a higher a claim on their lives than they do such that you can dictate whether they can or cannot do whatever they want with their own life.
Self-ownership. You believe in it, or you don't. No in between.
Yes I believe in self ownership as you describe it. I also think a person should attempt to seek help before doing anything irreversible.
It takes courage to live, not die. I have noticed far too many people, even on this forum, that feel someone is brave to commit suicide, and the fact is that admiration may be driving the suicides among our youth. Brave is living, not suicide!
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In the alternate reality you live in, maybe. In this reality, you are born and you live. It does not take any courage to live. I don't know how anyone can think that a sick person living in pain is brave. Choosing when and how you die is brave. Most of the population do not have the courage to that. The few that do are courageous and brave.
If a govt can take a life thru execution . Electric chair, drug drip. I would think the govt can stand by a person who has made the conscious decision to cease existence.
Oregon has a death with dignity. Well written and takes into account the physicians side and the patient.
I support a terminally ill person having that final say . I've already decided that if given a terminal prognosis. I am not going to wear a ribbon and play warrior. I'll not waste money on medical research for new drugs. Quietly into the night ..none of this champion thru the inevitable. I value my life I don't value dumping money into hospitals or treatments that in the end just sign the death certificate. I've buried those warriors .. watched as they were lied to ..that maybe this time! Give it a go. ! Then saw how their dignity was stripped. Lingering in morphine. No thanks.
In a recent thread, I brought up the issue of assisted suicide very late in the thread, but now believe that the subject deserves its own separate thread. So, what are your ideas on assisted suicide? When is it appropriate and under what circumstances? Or is it ever appropriate?
The thread that got me to thinking about assisted suicide had to do with old folks who could no longer take care of themselves and found themselves being cared for by family members (if possible) or in nursing homes of some kind.
In many cases, Medicaid was paying for the care of these elderly, feeble, and often incapacitated people. Yet there were many others who needed such care but because they had some assets, they did not qualify for assistance.
So, this got me to thinking: How many people, if they are currently of sound mind and half-way decent health, would want their life savings and investments to be spent in prolonging their life in some nursing home? Is simply existing (breathing in and breathing out and having a pulse) really all that important to you if you can't do much of anything for yourself?
If you need someone to feed you and change your diaper numerous times per day and give you medicine numerous times per day, and you're old and have little to no realistic hope of ever being better, are you really living? Or would it be time to say, "I've had a good run and enjoyed life, but now it's time to call it quits."
Well, unfortunately, at that stage of life, "calling it quits" is usually out of your own hands and it's usually illegal for anyone to assist you. So, what are you going to do? I suppose that you'll do what most people do... keep suffering until it mercifully ends. Wouldn't it be better if it were legal to have someone help you end your suffering? I think so.
It's making a big deal about nothing. Any patient can put in a DNR and then refuse food and fluids. As long as they don't take away the right to refuse life-extending items like intravenous or nasogastric fluids, there is a natural right to bite the dust.
This Spring a close friend of our died. She was 40yo, a lawyer, a former Assistant D.A. for Los Angelos County.
She was always full of life and energy.
She suffered abdominal pain for weeks before it was finally diagnosed as pancreas cancer. They did chemo therapy, but that really made her suffer.
Finally, she decided when and how she wanted to die. Maine has a 'death with dignity law' and she was able to find a doctor who was willing to prescribe the proper meds to do it. Taking possession of those meds is in itself an intricate process.
She did an interview with a local radio talk show, about her life, her cancer and her decision to die.
I think this choice should be made available to everyone. It is hard to watch a friend suffer so much.
This Spring a close friend of our died. She was 40yo, a lawyer, a former Assistant D.A. for Los Angelos County.
She was always full of life and energy.
She suffered abdominal pain for weeks before it was finally diagnosed as pancreas cancer. They did chemo therapy, but that really made her suffer.
Finally, she decided when and how she wanted to die. Maine has a 'death with dignity law' and she was able to find a doctor who was willing to prescribe the proper meds to do it. Taking possession of those meds is in itself an intricate process.
She did an interview with a local radio talk show, about her life, her cancer and her decision to die.
I think this choice should be made available to everyone. It is hard to watch a friend suffer so much.
Thanks for sharing that story. Very sad.
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