Do you support euthanasia?

[IanHulett]

I can see the mental health community gathering their torches and pitchforks at the idea of allowing anyone to kill themselves.

I'm certainly for euthanasia, but as far as allowing people outside the terminally ill to do so, I'm torn. I know it's not my place to say who can do what with their own lives, but the people that are most susceptible to suicide are the mentally ill. The last thing they need is encouragement in the form of socially legitimizing suicide. Again, I realize that mentally ill or not someone has the right to do with their lives as they wish, but I can say with quite certainty that if suicide had been legally and socially acceptable fifteen years ago, I would not be here today. The thing is at that point I would have never dreamed that I could have the control over my depression that I do now.

I believe that people have the right to control their lives, but I'm just not sure that making it okay for anyone to kill themselves is the right message to send.

I can understand the aversion, but if a person with a mental illness is at that point of considering suicide as a seriously viable and attractive option, do you really think they'd go to a hospital and undergo a screening/evaluation specifically designed to determine if they're mentally ill (and therefore block them from euthanasia alltogether in my opinion at least)?

But I'm mentally ill. I have Bipolar Disorder w/Psychotic Features, borderline Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Oppositional Defiance Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. If I were to become terminally ill and end up suffering day and night, should I be denied the right to euthanasia simply because I'm mentally ill?

[robvalue]

Mental illness is a very broad term. Being depressed for example is a common mental illness, and it's not always something that goes away. So for me, it's about assessing whether someone is both mentally capable of making decisions, and also in the best state of mind you can reasonably expect them to be. It seems unfair to deny it to a lucid person because they are depressed, especially as it's going to be a common cause.

And the person would have to go and seek out this process, jump through some hoops, see lots of people. It's not like I'm suggesting people turn up at your house with an axe and ask if you've got anyone who wants out. At any point in the process you could change your mind, just as you could if you were driving to a cliff to throw yourself off. In fact you're more likely to change your mind, because it will take longer, it won't be over in a day.

[FatAndFaithless]

I can understand the aversion, but if a person with a mental illness is at that point of considering suicide as a seriously viable and attractive option, do you really think they'd go to a hospital and undergo a screening/evaluation specifically designed to determine if they're mentally ill (and therefore block them from euthanasia alltogether in my opinion at least)?

But I'm mentally ill. I have Bipolar Disorder w/Psychotic Features, borderline Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Oppositional Defiance Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. If I were to become terminally ill and end up suffering day and night, should I be denied the right to euthanasia simply because I'm mentally ill?

No, I was (I thought pretty obviously) talking about folks that are not terminally ill, but are suffering from mental illness severe enough that suicide seems attractive only beacuse of their current mental state. I think a part of consenting to euthanasia is being as close to "of sound mind" as we can get, even if the term is nebulous.

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Mental illness is a very broad term. Being depressed for example is a common mental illness, and it's not always something that goes away. So for me, it's about assessing whether someone is both mentally capable of making decisions, and also in the best state of mind you can reasonably expect them to be. It seems unfair to deny it to a lucid person because they are depressed, especially as it's going to be a common cause.

And the person would have to go and seek out this process, jump through some hoops, see lots of people. It's not like I'm suggesting people turn up at your house with an axe and ask if you've got anyone who wants out. At any point in the process you could change your mind, just as you could if you were driving to a cliff to throw yourself off. In fact you're more likely to change your mind, because it will take longer, it won't be over in a day.

That's exactly what I mean.

[Dystopia]

Yes - As long as there is explicit consent - Bodily autonomy bitches.

I do have some doubts about euthanasia for children, particularly when it's up to the parents to decide if the child lives or dies (I'm talking about physical born beings not fetuses)

[robvalue]

Yes, it's more difficult when it comes to children. But if they have a terminal disease and have nothing to look forward to but months/years of permanent suffering, it seems unfair to force them through that. How the decision is made is much more tricky.

[Faith No More]

I can understand the aversion, but if a person with a mental illness is at that point of considering suicide as a seriously viable and attractive option, do you really think they'd go to a hospital and undergo a screening/evaluation specifically designed to determine if they're mentally ill (and therefore block them from euthanasia alltogether in my opinion at least)?

Well, attempting to create some sort of test for mental stability creates a whole different can of worms, but that's not really my issue. What stops a lot of mentally ill people from killing themselves is that the act goes against their biological and moral instincts. I feel that creating a law that essentially legitimizes suicide for most people would help mentally ill people overcome their instincts and give them justification for doing so. They certainly wouldn't be able to accept the reasoning behind allowing a non-mentally ill person and not allowing a mentally ill person, and they could be enticed into committing suicide by the desire to exercise a right.

Many mentally ill people have better options than suicide, and legalizing it would be the equivalent of pointing them in that direction.

[FatAndFaithless]

legalizing it would be the equivalent of pointing them in that direction.

I'm not sure I agree with that.

[Dystopia]

Yes, it's more difficult when it comes to children. But if they have a terminal disease and have nothing to look forward to but months/years of permanent suffering, it seems unfair to force them through that. How the decision is made is much more tricky.

Meh I don't know - Children usually don't make decisions that damage their bodily well being because they're not mature enough. The suffering part is relative because some people genuinely don't mind living with suffering, I think we shouldn't make assumptions about other people's pain, it's up to each individual to decide if his/her life is worth living or not.

Children is a complicated issue because they are legally incapacitated to consent in a variety of acts, and I don't think parents can legally decide if their children dies or not, it's not their life

I think euthanasia should be legally regulated because if left unregulated it could open the door to a variety of issues, such as eugenics and "unauthorized" killing. We can't assume someone wants do die, we need to ask the question first - It's like consent for sex, it needs to be informed and rational.

[robvalue]

No, for sure, if the child wants to live, then it should live. I wasn't suggesting we make that choice for it.

[Faith No More]

I'm not sure I agree with that.

Have you ever sat through group therapy in a mental hospital and listened to people talk about their life and suicide? Trust me when I say that legalization would be very encouraging to them.