Do you have the courage to commit suicide in case if terminal disease?

[Minimalist]

You may as well pray for a miracle, G/S.  The likelihood is that low.

[Anomalocaris]

Courage implies it is the right but difficult and painful things to do. people who elect not to commit suicide may not have made the choice out of lack of courage to face the pain and difficulty in doing it.

[brewer]

I tried the slow death for a lot of years with alcohol and the needle, but each time (yeah twice) I decided it wasn't time yet.

That said, I've seen too much inhumanity of lingering bed ridden deaths. If I know that time is coming (i.e. dementia does not fool me) and I've decided I'm at the end, I have a painless plan in place. 

FYI, it does not involve lead.

[Anomalocaris]

Suicide means giving up. I don't do that.

Or it could mean not receiving oneself to the last.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

You may as well pray for a miracle, G/S.  The likelihood is that low.

Back in 1971 me and some guys were "taking a stroll in the woods". One young man became convinced that we'd never get out of there alive. He just sat down and refused to move. The rest of us kept on going and actually made it out. We never saw that guy again. He gave up prematurely. He's my baseline for giving up. I refuse to give up.

---

Suicide means giving up. I don't do that.

Or it could mean not receiving oneself to the last.

My receiver works just fine, thank you. 

[Brian37]

Giving up on what sense? If it has no cure you just need to accept it.

Giving up in the sense that I didn't wait to see if somebody pulled a cure out of the hat.

So what? When my mom had her last diagnosis she was told she had a 50/50 shot of trying to get rid of the re-infection. SHE chose not to do anything. She still had that choice and nobody had the right to take that away from her. She was 81 and had been through other surgeries over the years. When she had the initial surgery this last one, based on her prior recoveries, both of us thought she would bounce back and have enough mobility to go back to her assisted living apartment. But, as hard as she tried, and she was a tough lady, she lost just enough mobility that the staff said she would have to stay in long term care. 

But I knew she hated being stuck there and it was a mental drain on her. Even with being moved from the rehab hall, to the long term wing, we had hoped that she could be re-evaluated. But prior to the last diagnosis, I could see the frustration in her face having to constantly depend on others and the embarrassment of soiling herself and the discomfort of having to wait to be changed. She had points where she couldn't take her dentures out by herself and she got extremely frustrated when she couldn't do that. 

It was a total of 8 months from the time of the initial surgery to her last diagnosis weeks before her death. I spent an average of 5 -6 days a week with her in rehab when we thought she'd go home, about 8 to 10 hours a day, then even more 6 days a week when she was in long term care, even more time each day. I spent every day with her the last few weeks sometimes up to 16 hours. 

I can tell you from watching her be frustrated and uncomfortable even before the last diagnosis, I completely understood her final decision.

[The Valkyrie]

I already have a *secret* agreement with a couple of colleagues in case of such an event.

If any of us get sick to such a point we will help tge other end it.

[Catholic_Lady]

Lol, it's ok I know you're not being snotty. It's both. The Church teaches to respect life from conception to natural death (including your own) on the premise that life is sacred, and I agree with that. It's a pretty fundamental part of my world view and outlook on life in general, and isn't a case of me just going along with it because it says so.

I do think it should be legal though, I just don't think it's morally good.

Why is someone wanting to avoid pain, in a TERMINAL situation not moral?

I watched my mother die. If you think assisted suicide in terminal situations SHOULD be legal, then you should also see it as moral and compassionate.

We treat pets when terminal far more compassionately than we do humans. And I have put two pets down myself. Now, do not tell me my cat or my mom's dog knew what I was going to have done to them when I took them to the vet. Humans certainly have far more cognition and ability to decide for themselves.

CL "the Church" is basing it's position, not on medical reality, but old mythology.

I am glad you think it should be legal, but you are trying to have it both ways and sorry, having witnessed my mother die, you'd have to call me immoral for saying it should be legal which makes no sense since you also just said here it should be legal.

I really think you should reflect on the conflict in your own head between an ancient book, and modern morality and ethics.

I am not immoral for saying my mom should have had that option anymore than taking my cat or dog to be put down. They both were in extreme pain too when I did that. Why should my mom who MADE the decision not to do anything more not be allowed to avoid more pain?

There are many, many things that I think should be legal but that I don't think are moral. Cheating on your spouse, lying to a friend, abusing drugs, etc etc. I'm too libertarian to say assisted suicide should be illegal, even though I think it is unethical.

[Macoleco]

I already have a *secret* agreement with a couple of colleagues in case of such an event.

If any of us get sick to such a point we will help tge other end it.

That sounds impressive. It is already hard to find one person who agrees to that sort of thing, let alone two.

[paulpablo]

I think it's the type of situation that you have to be in before you know what you'd do.

I've been watching breaking bad and I'd like to think I'd become some sort of a drug dealing, partying, gangster with no fear of being killed in my final days but isn't it way more likely that I'd actually take the less glamorous approach of just being treated medically until I die.

Pretty coincidental that this topic's on here and I've just really started watching breaking bad and it's up to the part where they're talking about treatment vs accepting death.