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

[ErGingerbreadMandude]

We should have companies that guarantees pain free death. After 20 years of age everyone should have the right to die. So, if I wanted to, I should be able to walk into there, pay them 100 bucks and let them kill me without any pain.. Why isn't this allowed?

[robvalue]

Well, I think there's a case for protecting people from themselves. People are often not in their right minds, due to various factors, and would later regret such a decision.

It would also bring up problems of coercion. With no investigation whatsoever, this would be a very easy way of getting rid of people you don't like.

I'm not saying you're wrong, just that I think it's not cut and dry.

[Thumpalumpacus]

You witnessed something, but you did not and cannot witness the only relevant metric in the situation you described.

I witnessed the regnant metric in this case: inability.

You say he wanted to die and yet did not.  Obviously, you're missing something, or some part of the s[t]ory was never related to you.  

Oh, he did die. A miserable, drawn-out death over an untreatable condition, after a week of entirely pointless suffering. It's not me who's missing part of the story, it's you -- but you have a narrative to uphold and clearly aren't interested in taking aboard views which don't comport with your own, which is leading you to deny what we all may read about and occasionally experience.

[ukatheist]

My understanding is that you can't just rock up at an assisted suicide clinic and 5 mins later leave on a slab, there are assessments, counselling etc. I sometimes wonder if greater availability of such clinics might even help prevent some suicides, if suicidal people go there for a relatively pain free suicide and get counselling that they probably wouldn't get if their only option was to diy.

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[robvalue]

What makes me mad is when people who gave no realistic chance of improving are suffering, and want to die, but aren't allowed to. This could be because they're no longer physically able to kill themselves, or because they are restrained/supervised continually "for their own safety".

I find this sick. There is one way in which animals get better treatment than humans: we don't let them suffer when they have no/little quality of life left.

[ErGingerbreadMandude]

My understanding is that you can't just rock up at an assisted suicide clinic and 5 mins later leave on a slab, there are assessments, counselling etc. I sometimes wonder if greater availability of such clinics might even help prevent some suicides, if suicidal people go there for a relatively pain free suicide and get counselling that they probably wouldn't get if their only option was to diy.

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(my bold)

Well, why not? We don't get counseling about the importance of living every single day.. Everything of that sort (counseling etc) should be optional..

[Catholic_Lady]

Tricky question.

I do not think taking your own life is an inherent God given right. But since I can't justify it in any other way besides bringing God into the picture, I do think it should be legal. I see it the same way I see prostitution and recreational hardcore drug use. According to God, we do not have the right to harm and mistreat the body and life that was given to us. But this does not hold water if we have separation of Church and state. And thus I think all those things should be legal because you are not directly hurting someone else.

[FatAndFaithless]

Tricky question.

I do not think taking your own life is an inherent God given right. But since I can't justify it in any other way besides bringing God into the picture, I do think it should be legal. I see it the same way I see prostitution and recreational hardcore drug use. According to God, we do not have the right to harm and mistreat the body and life that was given to us. But this does not hold water if we have separation of Church and state. And thus I think all those things should be legal because you are not directly hurting someone else.

Agreed (minus the God stuff, of course).

[Minimalist]

How does a person in a vegetative state elect to die?

Living will?

[brewer]

Suicide should be legal as long as you are determined mentally fit. The death needs to be at your own hands. As long as you can communicate, worst comes to worst, you can stop feeding. 

Euthanasia/assisted suicide is a bit trickier. You are then asking someone else to take or help take your life. I'm not sure I'd want that on the other persons conscious. I'm not convinced that this task should fall on the medical community, even for the supply of overdose medication. I think that this should probably become a legal option with regulations in place and overseen by the state.  

For situations like persistent vegetative states where you can't communicate your wishes, have your wishes declared before hand in a legally binding document, filed with the state. If you don't, think of the position you have put your family or others in to. Do it while your are still able. 

I watched both my parents die from protracted lingering deaths. That was their choice until the very end days, at which time they were wishing for death. By that time they no longer had the ability to take their own lives. Fortunately it came to the point where either could eat and they were not force feed in hospice. I'm determined not to go out that way if possible. i.e. I have a plan for the end times.