Assisted Suicide - where do we stand?

[peter]

Why in this debate (generally not specifically here) is physical pain given such proiority over mental pain. Why is being zoned out on heavy drugs at the end given such a bad press (can it be done to the point where any and all pain can be terminated - in that case give me the drugs if it buys me a few more days of life, stoned or otherwise), but stoning another person out with lithium et al or anti psychotics to controll thier schizophrenia is ok. Why is the mentally ill person denied the right of choice that is accorded to the physically ill. The whole thing is too full of paradoxes - you have to be sane enough to be able to decide to do what only a peson not in controll of their sanity decides to do. Suicide if I'm right, is still illegal (in the UK at least) but soon it may be legal to assist someone else to commit suicide. How on earth does all this work?

[Avatar]

Eighty years from now, someone's gonna check the records and say "We gotta know when this guy finally dies. Those are the organs we need to be studying!"

That was sorta the idea.

--A

[deer of the dawn]

yeah i'm undecided about this topic as well.

like someone mentioned upthread i still have unresolved feelings
about putting my two cats down, but that's mostly because i was
unable to explain to them the options and ask them what they'd
like me to do. that was the worst part of it.

I had to put my cat down a couple years ago because cancer was eating her face away and it wasn't going to get better. I had to put my dog down a few months ago because he was dying of dumb rabies. In both cases, I felt horrible and cried, although I did it in order to spare them further suffering. (And I sat with my dog for hours before the vet arrived to end his death throes. It was devastating.)

In my worldview, human life is on a different order. The "image of God", and all that. They're not pets, nor food animals whose lives we take almost without thinking (although I think we should at least give thanks when we do). Unless you're a vegetarian, I would venture to say that you too have taken the life of a living creature in the last day or two (in the form of meat-eating), and I'd be willing to bet you didn't give it that much thought.

I've thought a lot about what I would do if a loved one was in horrible pain (as in lorin's situation). To be honest, I would give them as much opiate as they needed in order to get some degree of comfort. If it wound up a fatal dose then so be it. If they are dying, I would not volitionally hasten it, but I would not say, "I can't give you pain relief right now, it might be fatal."

That's about as far as I can get with that.

[lucimay]

yeah i'm undecided about this topic as well.

like someone mentioned upthread i still have unresolved feelings
about putting my two cats down, but that's mostly because i was
unable to explain to them the options and ask them what they'd
like me to do. that was the worst part of it.

In my worldview, human life is on a different order. The "image of God", and all that. They're not pets, nor food animals whose lives we take almost without thinking (although I think we should at least give thanks when we do). Unless you're a vegetarian, I would venture to say that you too have taken the life of a living creature in the last day or two (in the form of meat-eating), and I'd be willing to bet you didn't give it that much thought.

yes, you're correct, i'm a meat eater. no, i don't give it much thought.

the comparison was only in how i felt about what i felt i had to do for them,
not comparing animal to human life.

i'm sorry if you took offense but that's all the experience i have to
compare how i might feel if i had to make these kind of decisions
for a loved one or family member. i'm scared about how i would feel
afterward (because of my experiences with my cats.)
i didn't hesitate to do what i thought was best for my kitties and i
wouldn't hesitate to help a loved one or family member if they
asked me to do so, but i'm not sure what is right or wrong in this
kind of a situation and it scares me.

because i am afraid that i might be asked to make these kind of decisions
or assist someone else, i will NOT be asking any of MY family members
or loved ones to do that for ME. i do not want to put anyone else in
that position.

[Orlion]

I've thought a lot about what I would do if a loved one was in horrible pain (as in lorin's situation). To be honest, I would give them as much opiate as they needed in order to get some degree of comfort. If it wound up a fatal dose then so be it. If they are dying, I would not volitionally hasten it, but I would not say, "I can't give you pain relief right now, it might be fatal."

That's about as far as I can get with that.

Funny thing about the human body. It gets use to and reliant sometimes on opiates. That means if the person is not going to die soon on their own, they are going to have a momentary 'zonked state' after which they will return back to their pained state with the added burden of going through withdrawal. Which means now, that high level of opiate is necessary just to maintain the original, pain-filled existence.

Of course, if the dosage would lead to an overdose and death, then I would have to ask what's the difference between that and assisted suicide? In fact, I think assisted suicide is, as a practice, similar to overloading the person with drugs (at least before the cocktail is administered to them).