Shouldn't the right to die be a human right?

[bennyboy]

If I have to pay off a loan and then one day I've had enough, I should be able to go to a suicide clinic and be done with it, they can accept my death as punishment I've given myself for not being able to honor my word.

They, who? The taxpayers? The people working at the clinic? The banks? Why should you not wanting to live any more pose a financial burden on others? You are not making a decision for yourself, but also a unilateral (and deleterious) decision on the behalf of many others-- about how they might live their life, and about the degree to which they may or may not prosper. What about their rights?

Nobody has a right to control someone else's body because they've at some time "invested" in them.[ Would you be supportive of the state controlling a pregnant woman's body as they see fit because they've at some time invested in her?

That's a strange red herring. You might as well ask, "Would you be supportive of the state not letting people wear clown shoes because they've at some time invested in them?"

We're talking about the right to die, not about what one chooses to do with a functioning body. And in my view, there ARE certain obligations that come with living. A teenager who kills herself, for example, will completely destroy her parents' lives, and very likely not for anything they did. She cannot understand her hormones, her psychological state, and the degree to which these may be temporary. She should most certainly NOT be extended the right to kill herself.


I'd consider anyone who wants to kill himself, without a very compelling rational reason to do so, insane, and I don't think insane people should be allowed the freedom to make this type of decision.