(October 4, 2009 at 4:15 am)Saerules Wrote: All it takes is one bullet to the brain... or one severe knife wound to the throat... or one easy leap off of a tall building.

Why would one need assistance to kill themself? The methods by which to die each day are innumerable. If one desires peace eternal... what is minor ordeal to stay their will? Life is a glass cannon... it fights hard to maintain its own fragile existence... and delicate life is easily shattered.

There is no such thing as a mercy killing... for mercy is in showing compassion and forgiveness toward those within one's power to punish or harm. To kill someone because of their misery? This is a killing forged from pity. Killing cannot be done by mercy... and one of the most common shows of mercy is in not killing when one could.

Not always, letting somebody go through extreme pain until they die is cruel but shortening their suffering would be a display of mercy.

(October 4, 2009 at 4:15 am)Saerules Wrote: All it takes is one bullet to the brain... or one severe knife wound to the throat... or one easy leap off of a tall building.

Why would one need assistance to kill themself?

Going through your examples one by one:

1) What if they couldn't hold a gun?
2) What if they couldn't hold a knife?
3) What if they couldn't even move to get to the top of the building?

The people we are talking about here are people who have been left incapable of living their life properly. If I were in constant pain, bound to a wheelchair, I'd probably want to die as well. The point of clinics that help you die is that they do it with mercy and compassion. They make sure your last moments are not filled with pain, and that you die peacefully.

Quote:There is no such thing as a mercy killing... for mercy is in showing compassion and forgiveness toward those within one's power to punish or harm. To kill someone because of their misery? This is a killing forged from pity. Killing cannot be done by mercy... and one of the most common shows of mercy is in not killing when one could.

What if the person was begging you to kill them, since they were in so much pain? Is that not mercy? I would certainly not be pitying them if they asked such a thing.

(October 4, 2009 at 4:15 am)Saerules Wrote: Why would one need assistance to kill themself? The methods by which to die each day are innumerable.

You'd require assistance if you were incapable of doing anything.

(October 4, 2009 at 4:15 am)Saerules Wrote: Why would one need assistance to kill themself?

Because they aren't able to do it themselves due to physical disabilities, for example, and require help in doing so because they are in too much pain while alive.

(October 4, 2009 at 6:49 am)Retorth Wrote:

(October 4, 2009 at 4:15 am)Saerules Wrote: Why would one need assistance to kill themself?

Because they aren't able to do it themselves due to physical disabilities, for example, and require help in doing so because they are in too much pain while alive.

Providing assistance doesn't always necessitate killing them. Some people are afraid they'll botch the job and end up suffering more.

Just giving them the information of how they can do it themselves in a simple painless, clean, and fast way is often sufficient assistance.

Or it may require that their doctor prescribe a pill they can take when and if the time comes they've had enough.

But to pass laws that criminalize such assistance is, in my opinion, criminal.

(October 4, 2009 at 9:46 am)Secularone Wrote:

(October 4, 2009 at 6:49 am)Retorth Wrote:

(October 4, 2009 at 4:15 am)Saerules Wrote: Why would one need assistance to kill themself?

Because they aren't able to do it themselves due to physical disabilities, for example, and require help in doing so because they are in too much pain while alive.

Providing assistance doesn't always necessitate killing them. Some people are afraid they'll botch the job and end up suffering more.

Just giving them the information of how they can do it themselves in a simple painless, clean, and fast way is often sufficient assistance.

Or it may require that their doctor prescribe a pill they can take when and if the time comes they've had enough.

But to pass laws that criminalize such assistance is, in my opinion, criminal.

When we say "provide assistance" we are saying to help the person in excruciating pain but usually when a person is in such a state, they only want to end their suffering as soon as possible, not prolong it.

Yes it can mean getting a doctor to prescribe a pill or an injection.

Granted, the word "kill" has been mentioned numerous times above and perhaps you mistook it for a reference to violence, but "assistance" here refers to the act of terminating the sufferer's life, be it a pill, an injection or "pulling the plug". Nobody said anything about taking a gun and shooting that person or stabbing that person or pushing that person off the top of a building.

That certainly would be insane.

Well, you would most certainly need assistance if you were paralyzed from the neck down. You wouldn't even be able to hold a pill to take it. Somebody would need to give it to you... the whole point is that you wouldnt want that person prosecuted for murder, which with the current laws (in most states) they would.

(October 4, 2009 at 9:57 am)Retorth Wrote: Granted, the word "kill" has been mentioned numerous times above and perhaps you mistook it for a reference to violence, but "assistance" here refers to the act of terminating the sufferer's life, be it a pill, an injection or "pulling the plug". Nobody said anything about taking a gun and shooting that person or stabbing that person or pushing that person off the top of a building.

That certainly would be insane.

I am well aware of what assistance means.
I am also well aware that religious nuts want to portray this assistance as an act of violence. That is why they always refer to it with misleading terminology that implies murder.

If you visit one of the religious nut websites and read their propaganda, you'll see what I mean.

Thus, my only point here is that we should not cooperate with their agenda by using their terminology to describe this issue. Anytime we use terms like "mercy killing, assisted suicide" we are doing exactly that.

Organizations that advocate for the "right of the terminally ill to hasten their death" do not use such terminology for that very reason. Check out Compassion & Choices.

We reject the idea that this is suicide or murder since the patient is already listed as "terminal" and death is already a certainty. We are merely advocating for the right of that person to end their suffering earlier if they choose to do so.

Hmm... I see what you mean. I stand corrected.

People who complain about the terminology used are being superficial towards this issue. I seriously don't give a fuck about the propaganda spread by those self-righteous pricks. This is a matter of life and death yet some bitch about it being called "assisted suicide". Honestly, do you think that somebody who suffers from a terminal illness, who is permanently on drugs and restricted to a hospital bed gives a damn if it's called "assisted suicide' or "the right of the terminally ill to hasten their death"? I don't think so.