Forcing other people to live hopeless lives in pain for your own morality is evil, in my opinion.
If you are terminal, do you want all your savings to go to health care, or would you want to ensure you children or spouse get what you had saved over the years.
To me, if terminal and needing lots of healthcare, I think you are better of tossing in the towel. Trying to stick it out could put your family into poverty.
It's a hard problem.
Physically assisted or otherwise is not really a factor, quadriplegics aside. Any glove wearing individual can set objects on a table and walk away.
(Also it's not exactly assisted. They set everything up for you but you're the one that pushes the button)
https://www.dordt.edu/in-all-things/the-cautionary-tale-of-e...
Unfortunately, in the place we live, there is no legal framework for choosing this anyway. So he is unable to chose, and I am unable to chose for him either. I absolutely hate to have him be in this state - such a brilliant man, reduced to this.
He had a (brain)stroke, and my grandfather on the mothers side also died of a stroke. So genetically speaking, my chances look (relatively) bleak. I know for a fact I won't want to go-on if I ever reach anywhere as bad as his current condition. But there's no option available to me either. I will have to suffer similarly, and the people I end up being dependent on will have to suffer similarly and watch me suffer similarly.
I think being able to decide when you want to "go" is and should be a fundamental right - a natural right - every person should have. And we would, if it weren't for this false religious crap being foisted upon the world.
He was born to poor parents, and the eldest of 7 children. His father could never have paid for his education, but he has brilliant from the very start, and they lived in a village town, where the school had been built by a kind, local rich man, and my father studied his entire life on scholarship. He was the first person from his district to earn a masters degree (in electronics), and in his era, his bachelors and masters were each earned from the very top university of the country. Again, all on scholarship. Started a job as a professor, but quickly switched, first to a premier research labs, working on the very first satellites/payloads built in my country, and then later to being a technocrat in the state government: his qualification and ability were so high that he joined as the ranking technocrat of the state, and remained that till his retirement. Right around his job change, he got married and had three children - me and my two sisters.
During all this, he also earned an executive MBA.
After retirement, he didn't feel like sitting idle, and started a new career as the head of department (for two departments: computer engineering and electrical engineering) at a good, well regarded engineering college/university. He did this for 12 years, when he had a brain stroke, and then I asked him to not work anymore.
He recovered from the brain stroke, but more strokes/falls happened at a steady pace. He passed away at 79. The end was pretty painful, and I wish he had not had to go thru all that.
He lived a simple, harsh life - He never cared for comforts, or money, or luxuries. But he was genuinely content. In the end, all he really asked for was to "lets go home" (from the hospital). Fortunately, we did manage to get him discharged and his final few days were at home.
be at peace, pop. I love you.
There is an argument for narrowly tailored assisted suicide as there is evidence that many regret their attempts, however the moralizing should be left out of the equation entirely.
leakycap•4mo ago
Well, non-legal suicide is a huge problem... in other words, people are making this choice whether it is legal or not, at least in some capacities.
Having a legal avenue for someone to go down might actually put them in contact with warm humans or connections that change the outcome.
But Pandora's Box is a weak-ass argument & doesn't reflect reality where legalized suicide exists and no Pandora's Box has appeared.
jawns•4mo ago
Interestingly, pain is not among the top reasons.
Instead, the top reasons are around a loss of independence (having to depend on other people for care) and a loss of dignity (feeling embarrassed about having to depend on other people for care).
This IS the Pandora's Box, already opened. Our culture is hostile to people who are dependent on others for care. It leads people to worry that they will be a burden on others if they need support. It leads us to look at people with disabilities and think, "I'd rather be dead than in their position." The box has been open for decades, and a rise in acceptance of assisted suicide is just one of many related outcomes.
[1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2265314/
leakycap•4mo ago
You also define dignity as embarrassment which makes me think you don't understand the concept as it relates to the loss someone feels when facing the end of their life.
As an aside: People were terrified of gay marriage and the argument was repeatedly made that legalizing same-sex marriage was going to open a pandora's box.
At the time, I knew this was nonsense because my home state had same-sex civil unions for decades and there had been no problems except a few angry religious people (they weren't forced into gay marriages they just didn't want other people to have that option)
user_7832•4mo ago
Folks who're eg depressed tend to "do less" and people in pain or with other such chronic ailments (eg ME/CFS) may have less energy to begin with to "spend".
In a survey, if the effort required to answer isn't very close to zero, you would expect to see lesser responses from such people; however they may be "typically" represented in terms of suicides.
In contrast, otherwise/formerly "healthy" people would not have this issue causing them to be underrepresented in the survey.
Yossarrian22•4mo ago