assisted suicide vs suicide prevention

[Catholic_Lady]

So I know there are quite a few people here who have said that they support assisted suicide for any person who no longer wants to live, so long as they are an adult. The rationale is, a person has the right to end their life for any reason if they so choose, and there should therefore be a safe and painless options for them to do so. 

For those people, my question is, do you feel then that it is not appropriate to call 911 when a friend tells you they will kill themselves, since you are preventing them from doing something they have a right to do? Do you think we should lay off the whole suicide prevention thing, and just let people choose for themselves, and not make suicide into this thing we should prevent people from doing?

[Chad32]

Usually when we say we support assisted suicide, it's because someone has a terminal illness, or that they're already old. If it's just depression, and they're still physically young and fit, then we'll work on fixing their psychological problems.

[Catholic_Lady]

Usually when we say we support assisted suicide, it's because someone has a terminal illness, or that they're already old. If it's just depression, and they're still physically young and fit, then we'll work on fixing their psychological problems.

No, there have been quite a few people here who say they support it in all cases.

[I_am_not_mafia]

So I know there are quite a few people here who have said that they support assisted suicide for any person who no longer wants to live, so long as they are an adult. The rationale is, a person has the right to end their life for any reason if they so choose, and there should therefore be a safe and painless options for them to do so. 

For those people, my question is, do you feel then that it is not appropriate to call 911 when a friend tells you they will kill themselves, since you are preventing them from doing something they have a right to do? Do you think we should lay off the whole suicide prevention thing, and just let people choose for themselves, and not make suicide into this thing we should prevent people from doing?

If someone tells others that they want to commit suicide than it could just be a cry for help and they are in such a serious emotional state that they could end up damaging themselves and degrading the quality of their life.

If I was talking to someone who was truly suicidal because of depression, I couldn't in all honesty tell them not to. But I also appreciate that in such a case their perspective will be completely skewed and they can't currently make an informed non-emotional choice.

If the person wanted to end their life because they knew for sure that it was not going get better and only going to get worse (e.g. because of a medical diagnosis) then there is absolutely no way that I would try to convince them out of it.

We had a situation recently here in the UK a woman threw acid over her boyfriend while he was waking up. He was left in such a bad condition that he ended up choosing assisted suicide. She was then retried for manslaughter / murder (can't remember which). It would be immensely cruel of me to convince someone not to commit suicide if they were in such pain solely for the sake of my own personal feelings.

[Brian37]

So I know there are quite a few people here who have said that they support assisted suicide for any person who no longer wants to live, so long as they are an adult. The rationale is, a person has the right to end their life for any reason if they so choose, and there should therefore be a safe and painless options for them to do so. 

For those people, my question is, do you feel then that it is not appropriate to call 911 when a friend tells you they will kill themselves, since you are preventing them from doing something they have a right to do? Do you think we should lay off the whole suicide prevention thing, and just let people choose for themselves, and not make suicide into this thing we should prevent people from doing?

This is out of context as to what we mean, and please do not assume only atheists are for assisted suicide. 

Of course I will call 911. No, what we mean is in the case of non terminal suicide is after the fact, not during or before. We are not going to judge someone for doing it. That does not mean in the case of non terminal suicide we are saying we wouldn't try to prevent it. 

Mental illness has a stigma attached to it. All we mean, if in the unfortunate case that someone is successful we would not judge them. CL if you or Minn or anyone I know says they want to kill themselves, and they are NOT terminal, I certainly would try to get them help.

Assisted suicide is human for the terminally ill. You can't mix that in with mental illness which is different.

And I get to speak on this because I have been suicidal and I am glad I didn't, but I certainly would want someone to try to save me.

[Chad32]

Usually when we say we support assisted suicide, it's because someone has a terminal illness, or that they're already old. If it's just depression, and they're still physically young and fit, then we'll work on fixing their psychological problems.

No, there have been quite a few people here who say they support it in all cases.

I guess I'll just speak for myself, then.

[WinterHold]

I believe it should be carried on only when illness is too severe that the patient is considered already ruined and doomed.

Have an ischemic stroke as an example that comes with partial or full paralysis. The person is already dead if the stroke happens in a crucial spot in the brain.
I would say it should be a choice the person does when they're alive before they lose ability to speak or something far more terrible occurs.

[Whateverist]

So I know there are quite a few people here who have said that they support assisted suicide for any person who no longer wants to live, so long as they are an adult. The rationale is, a person has the right to end their life for any reason if they so choose, and there should therefore be a safe and painless options for them to do so. 

For those people, my question is, do you feel then that it is not appropriate to call 911 when a friend tells you they will kill themselves, since you are preventing them from doing something they have a right to do? Do you think we should lay off the whole suicide prevention thing, and just let people choose for themselves, and not make suicide into this thing we should prevent people from doing?

We just had a situation in my wife Lia's family that relates.  Her first cousin Gail has had extreme social anxiety for a long time being now in her late 70's.  Recently she wrote to Lia and Lia's brother Richard, telling them that she wanted to end it, that life was just too hard.  She tends to end up staying in places which fill up with things she won't throw out and into which she won't invite anyone.  She doesn't let anyone know where she is either.  But after getting that letter, Lia tracked her down living in a place a couple hours south of us.  She didn't answer the door and either had no phone or not one of which we were aware.  But a neighbor directed her to where she could go around to call into a window to say who she was.  She let her in and they talked.  Meanwhile Richard phoned some agencies which resulted in her being placed in a senior assisted living facility.  She gets medications and activities now which have greatly improved her outlook.  She struggles with social anxiety but now her day to day maintenance doesn't feel so far beyond her capacity.  

If we are to allow self selected suicide I think we must make some serious effort to rule out the possibility to alleviate the condition which prompts the request.  Of course in this country where so many want to erode our very inadequate social safety net, I'm sure we will go on allowing millions to live in desperation and only voice our concern when talk of suicide comes up.

[Losty]

I think both. Suicide prevention should always be first. Wanting to die is a pretty good indicator of some mental health issues. I wouldn’t want someone to kill themselves over something that can be addressed with meds and therapy. So my initial reaction would be to call 911. After that it gets fuzzy. I mean, at what point with treatment not working should we not force a person to suffer through life when they don’t want to. The truth is, I don’t know.

[Minimalist]

Who is to say that mental pain is not every bit as real as physical pain?

There are people who are treated for years by shrinks and remain desperate.

It is a highly personal decision.