Do You Have the Right to Take Your Own Life?

[Villain]

The only problem with this train of thought is, how can you be liable for something when you're dead? Taking that one step further, who then fulfills the obligation that you entered?

Your estate would presumably take on that liability.

 

[Mike Rotch]

This thread asked about the right; yes, it's an individuals right.

The question of whether the deed is morally right is a completely different question.

Speaking of incarceration, we prevent prisoners from killing themselves... why?

Interesting point. They forfeit their right to freedom and arguably dignity, so why not their right to live or die too?

 

[Doth1s]

If you wish to take your own life, you will take your own life. It isn't really an issue unless you fail at said task.

 

[BobbyBRAKEaNek]

Yes, no, maybe?

You do not have the right to off yourself because your classmates are bullies, or your mom died, or other forms of depression. I'm assuming that depression-induced suicide is not the point of the question. Then again, maybe it's natural selection. If you can't face words, much less sticks and stones, what good are you to society?

Tell this to my 13 year old cousin who just hung himself Monday. Maybe he didn't think he was worth anything to society. Matter of fact, 🤬 society, society is the main reason for suicide.

 

[Danisfast]

You can't look at suicide from a purely "functionalist" perspective. Anyone has the right to kill themselves for whatever reason they like. It's a shame when they do; but that is life (and death). What we as a society might look to try and do is understand what brings people to such a decision (or reality) and seek to reduce those elements and hopefully reduce instances of suicide (like Bobby's cousin) occurring as frequently as it does. Sorry to hear about that, by the way.

Despite the apparent ignorance of wfooshee's comment, there is something to be said for the usefulness of inner strength that, if found to harvest-able, could possibly help to prevent people sliding down that path. Perhaps that might be a key...? Who knows...

 

[hambone8611]

..
Speaking of incarceration, we prevent prisoners from killing themselves... why?

Because the state gets sued for liable, pretty silly if you ask me.

 

[niky]

Speaking of incarceration, we prevent prisoners from killing themselves... why?

Interesting point. They forfeit their right to freedom and arguably dignity, so why not their right to live or die too?

Because they forfeit those rights, they live or die on society's terms. If they try to take a shortcut on their punishment by opting for an easy out, they're cheating society.

Which is why we won't allow suicides, but still perform executions (in states and cases where we still perform executions).

 

[Baron Blitz Red]

I would have to say yes as well. If you have the right to live, you have the right to die. It's called freedom of choice...

 

[Keef]

Because they forfeit those rights, they live or die on society's terms. If they try to take a shortcut on their punishment by opting for an easy out, they're cheating society.

A lifer would be cheating us [California] up to -$2,460,000. One young lifer would save California's taxpayers nearly $2.5 million - the cost of keeping him locked up for life - if he were allowed to kill himself. Cheating society? If you kill somebody and your existence is permanently removed from society then keeping you alive is totally illogical. All it does is waste money. Let them kill themselves if they want to.

Which is why we won't allow suicides, but still perform executions (in states and cases where we still perform executions).

Word is that executions are often even more expensive than a life prison sentence.

 

[niky]

It's the principle of the thing. They should live or die in the manner that the government dictates.

Word is that executions are often even more expensive than a life prison sentence.

Only because of those namby-pamby regulations ensuring that executions are "humane". I say dump them down an elevator shaft lined with rusty nails and come back for the remains after a week. If they survive both the drop and a week's worth of lying in a pile of broken bones, then we let them free, just because they're so bad-ass.

 

[Milldrum]

Tell this to my 13 year old cousin who just hung himself Monday. Maybe he didn't think he was worth anything to society. Matter of fact, 🤬 society, society is the main reason for suicide.

Sorry to hear about your cousin.

On topic, No I don't have the right to commit suicide. I have a good life in a good country with a good wife and a good 4yo. So NO I don't have the right.

But if I was sick and there was no chance of getting better, was getting worse and my life was filled with physical and emotional pain, then my answer would change to YES. My best friend suffered from Huntington's Disease. He watched his family getting worse, his own health and quality of life disappearing. So YES he had every right to do what he did. Only his Mother can tell me different but she agrees that he took control of the rest of his life.

 

[Zenith]

It could be argued that preventing someone from taking their own life because it would make you sad is also selfish.

That's why I said that taking one's life is a right. I agree that in certain situations that it's selfish to stop somebody.

Why?

The only wrong I can attribute to suicide is not considering the effect of your death on other people, and by this I mean things like signing a contract in which you promise to do something, but then can't because you killed yourself.

The emotional suffering that you might cause others is something else to consider, by they don't have the right to cause you to suffer by preventing your suicide. If you have your sense and you want to die, go ahead.

Now if you were talking about how disruptive it is to just commit suicide out of nowhere, I can agree with that. If you're going to kill yourself, you should do things like have credit cards canceled, and also notify the police (probably have them watch it too under controlled circumstances so that no one could fake the call and then use it as a cover for murder). Basically, euthanasia for the healthy.

Calling it cowardly is ridiculous though.

I'm talking about stepping in front of a train, gun to the head, etc.

Irresponsible: Scars observers and causes a huge amount of stress on family and friends.
Cowardly: Unwillingness to face one's own demons and problems. No matter who you are, people have been through worse. In a modern western society, there's no excuse.
Selfish: Above combined.

As far as self euthanasia... Yeah, that could work someday in some other society.

So, if someone was suffering from a disease that made their life a living hell, it would make them cowardly to end their own life?

Sorry, I wasn't talking about that in particular. See above.

 

[boomee]

No I do not think you have the right to take your own life. God gave you life God decides when you leave I believe that sucide is a weak way to die in most cases.Sure its free will but it also shows how selfish man can be at times.

When it comes to disease when it is your time its your time until then its still your burden to bare

 

[Lucas]

I believe you do have the right, but whether it's a good choice to kill yourself depends on the situation. Of course, if you decide to kill yourself, it's because you feel it's good for you. But I'm talking about the situation of those who surround you.

 

[Liquid]

God gave you life God decides when you leave I believe that sucide is a weak way to die in most cases.Sure its free will but it also shows how selfish man can be at times.

My parents being 18 and careless gave me my life. I'll do with it as I see fit.

 

[DaxCobra]

My parents being 18 and careless gave me my life. I'll do with it as I see fit.

Well said. 👍

 

[Exorcet]

In reply to Keef from page 1, laws and rights are different things.

Irresponsible: Scars observers and causes a huge amount of stress on family and friends.

Agree. If you want to kill yourself, you should minimize the impact on others. However, if keeping yourself alive is a huge stress on you, then your family would would be the selfish and irresponsible ones for keeping you alive.

If you want to take your life, discuss it with family/friends A to make sure you really want to and B to lessen the impact on then should you decide to take it.

Cowardly: Unwillingness to face one's own demons and problems. No matter who you are, people have been through worse. In a modern western society, there's no excuse.

This is still nonsense when used in a general sense IMO. There is no reason for someone to sit through something horrifically painful or unpleasant, and I feel that anyone who thinks so is ignorant.

If I was going to lable suicide as cowardly, and I don't think I would under any circumstance, it would be a case by case thing. If someone feels so lost that death is the only way out, they should look for other solutions first, but if none exist, there is nothing inherently wrong with suicide.

Selfish: Above combined.

Only if you don't consider anyone else's feelings. If you did and then minimized the impact of suicide, it wasn't selfish at all.

 

[Lissa]

I've had to think long and hard before posting in this thread, as I have also been affected by the suicide of a family member.

My kid brother killed himself in 2001. He was 30 years old. It devasted my mother, my father, myself, and my three children who idolised their Uncle Matt. My mother had to fly all the way out to America to identify his body and bring him home. It was the hardest thing I have ever had to face so far in my life, I still miss him, but I have never been angry with him or thought him selfish or a coward. I'm just sad that he was clearly in such despair about something that the only option he felt open to him was to end his life.

That being said, if I was ever unlucky enough to be in a situation where I was going to die, and living each day in constant pain, I would want the right to choose my own ending.

 

[Leonidae@MFT]

Yes, you have right to take your own life, as long as you don't take others with you while doing so and leave a note that clarifies why you've come to this conclusion.

 

[Lizard]

Yes you should.

If its selfish to commit suicide then its selfish to give birth I never made the choice to be born.

 

[CodeRedR51]

That being said, if I was ever unlucky enough to be in a situation where I was going to die, and living each day in constant pain, I would want the right to choose my own ending.

👍

So my answer = yes. This thread needs a poll.

 

[Touring Mars]

I think the right to choose how and when one dies is as fundamental a human right as the right to life itself.

Suicide is often a tragic waste of life and an indefensible act of selfishness, but not always. However, I don't believe that the circumstances surrounding a suicide should be conflated with the issue of one's rights.

 

[Danoff]

^^ Good post TM.

Because the state gets sued for liable, pretty silly if you ask me.

I love how the "easy" solution to that is to make sure that inmates don't have shoe laces.

 

[Slash]

My parents being 18 and careless gave me my life. I'll do with it as I see fit.

That just happened to a few close friends of mine. I hope their son/daughter feels the same way.

 

[Liquid]

That just happened to a few close friends of mine. I hope their son/daughter feels the same way.

It makes absolutely no difference to me at all that I was an accident. I don't even remember how I found out that I was unplanned, the event was so trivial to me. I think when I found out at a young age that my parents were 18 when I was born, I sort of worked it out.

But they've treated me superbly since day one and brought me, and eventually my sister, up during their 20s and 30s when they could have possibly had more fufiling lives had they not had children. But they've brought me up well and like I said, it makes no difference at all as to how I consider how 'important' my gift of life is in the grand scale of things because I know how much my parents have sacrificed to bring me up well and proper. In fact, I use myself as an example of how teenage pregnancies don't always end up with delinquent children who are as stereotypically scroungeful as their equally typecast parents.

Slightly off topic, but considering we're talking about ending one's life, it's quite interesting to talk about the circumstances of becoming alive, something none of us chose.

 

[Slash]

I sure hope my friends kids don't turn in to a delinquent lol. I mean I'm happy for them but there is NO WAY they can support it. Like literally a month and a half ago this happened. It's not mine obviously but I cared for this girl a bit before her and her current BF (also my friend) got her knocked up. Now I'm kinda scared for her XD

 

[MatskiMonk]

Slightly off topic, but considering we're talking about ending one's life, it's quite interesting to talk about the circumstances of becoming alive, something none of us chose.

Surely, we are the product of the sperm that wanted the egg more than anything else and more than any other...? we all chose to be born... if it wasn't what we wanted on a cellular level, we'd have probably just hung around the uterus wearing black hoodies with the rest of the emo sperm, whilst the one that wanted life round-house kicked his way to the front..



Sex education in the UK isn't what it should be btw.

 

[Sach]

Rights imply to me a sense of the law, or a legality of some sort. But once you are gone there is no way to reprimand you for what you've done, so the question is moot.

 

[MatskiMonk]

I think the question of Rights, versus what is 'right' is quite a fine line really.

Do I have the right to murder 20 people?

 

[Doth1s]

I think the question of Rights, versus what is 'right' is quite a fine line really.

Do I have the right to murder 20 people?

No, that would be murder.