Assisted Suicide Is Legal In Six States

I'm getting older. My father died 3 years ago. He died in a hospital bed of sepsis at the age of 84. Before he died he racked up hospital bills close to $600,000 (which may sound like a lot but it isn't with hospital pricing) his last six months alive. After several years of thinking about it I've come to the conclusion I do not want to die in hospital. To be honest with you, I would like to control the circumstances and do it in single day. I'm not interest in doing what my father did by dragging it out suffering and then end up dying of sepsis.

I started this thread because I've been thinking about the morality of assisted suicide. In researching this thread I did not even know assisted suicide is legal in 6 states: CA, CO, OR, WA, MT, and NH. Wow! It's actually legal!! Given NH's motto I thought that was interesting.

Assisted suicide

Assisted suicide is a very controversial topic, and has not always been legal in the 6 U.S. states that it is now legal in.

The laws can be complicated in terms of culpability of the people involved:

Free vs. manipulated will
If the suicidal person is not acting out of his own free will, then assistance is punishable by any of a number of homicide offences that the criminal code provides for, as having "acted through another person" (§25, section 1 of the German criminal code,[110] usually called "mittelbare Täterschaft"). Action out of free will is not ruled out by the decision to end one's life in itself; it can be assumed as long as a suicidal person "decides on his own fate up to the end [...] and is in control of the situation."[109]

Free will cannot be assumed, however, if someone is manipulated or deceived. A classic textbook example for this, in German law, is the so-called Sirius case on which the Federal Court of Justice ruled in 1983: The accused had convinced an acquaintance that she would be re-incarnated into a better life if she killed herself. She unsuccessfully attempted suicide, leading the accused to be charged with, and eventually convicted of attempted murder.[111] (The accused had also convinced the acquaintance that he hailed from the star Sirius, hence the name of the case).

Apart from manipulation, the criminal code states three conditions under which a person is not acting under his own free will:

1. if the person is under 14
2. if the person has "one of the mental diseases listed in §20 of the German Criminal Code"[112]
3. a person that is acting under a state of emergency.

Under these circumstances, even if colloquially speaking one might say a person is acting of his own free will, a conviction of murder is possible.

Many other countries are much more liberal with their assisted suicide laws which is probably why healthcare costs are so much lower in every other country. From the healthcare cartel's perspective, people dying is a huge cash cow!!!

Although I don't practice any religious discipline I tend to be a very thoughtful and moral person. So I've been thinking about the morality of assisted suicide. I'm not talking about euthanasia. Euthanasia is very tricky. I'm talking about a person of sound mind with nothing but aches and pains deciding of their own free-will it is their time to check out. I have heard from friends who knew people who committed suicide that committing suicide is a very selfish act. I think if you are above 75 and the old body is degrading fast why give tons of money to the healthcare cartel when you are just going to suffer and die anyway. Either way I imagine my children would suffer from mourning. I would prefer not to be a burden on society in my final days. I admit it's a weird idea which is why I started the thread.

I thought this web page article had a good summary of the ethics:

Ethical aspects of PAS

So good people of ATS. Time to weigh in. Do you think assisted suicide, not euthanasia (topic for another thread), is ever moral or immoral and why? And did you know it was legal in 6 states? Or am I a selfish liberal snowflake a hole?

As with all other "crimes" against your own body, it shouldn't be a crime.

Absolutely assisted suicide should be legal. I will qualify that by indicating it should be reserved for terminal illnesses, or catastrophic illnesses which haver no hope for recovery. Not for depression. Depression can be successfully treated.

originally posted by: dfnj2015
So good people of ATS. Time to weigh in. Do you think assisted suicide, not euthanasia (topic for another thread), is ever moral or immoral and why? And did you know it was legal in 6 states? Or am I a selfish liberal snowflake a hole?

Who are you to dare think you have a right to check out on your own terms?

I'm predicting the anti opinions in this thread will be little more than moralistic, feel-good nonsense about bibles and permanent solutions to temporary problems.

I'm okay with it as long as the individual is able to make a sound logical decision. Sometimes it seems we treat our pets more humanely than our fellow humans.

originally posted by: eNumbra
Who are you to dare think you have a right to check out on your own terms?

Well, obviously I have just as much authority in deciding how to answer the question as you do in questioning my authority.

Also, I might add, assisted suicide is legal in 6 states. So I am not the only one that thinks I have the authority!

a reply to: Illumimasontruth

Sometimes it's the other way around. How people treat their pets is just one step away from how they treat their fellow human beings. But that's a discussion for another thread.

You do make a good point.

When you’re lost in the Wild, and you’re scared as a child,
And Death looks you bang in the eye,
And you’re sore as a boil, it’s according to Hoyle
To cock your revolver and . . . die.
But the Code of a Man says: “Fight all you can,”
And self-dissolution is barred.
In hunger and woe, oh, it’s easy to blow . . .
It’s the hell-served-for-breakfast that’s hard.

“You’re sick of the game!” Well, now, that’s a shame.
You’re young and you’re brave and you’re bright.
“You’ve had a raw deal!” I know-but don’t squeal,
Buck up, do your damnedest, and fight.
It’s the plugging away that will win you the day,
So don’t be a piker, old pard!
Just draw on your grit; it’s so easy to quit:
It’s the keeping-your-chin-up that’s hard.

It’s easy to cry that you’re beaten-and die;
It’s easy to crawfish and crawl;
But to fight and to fight when hope’s out of sight-
Why, that’s the best game of them all!
And though you come out of each grueling bout,
All broken and beaten and scarred,
Just have one more try-it’s dead easy to die,
It’s the keeping-on-living that’s hard.

- Robert Service


That always uplifts me a tad when I'm feeling down, but that said, I completely believe assisted suicide should be legal. If it came down to it, I'd do it for a family member or a close friend, so I fail to see the morality in keeping such a practice illegal.

Every person should have the right to decide if they want to end their lifes on their own volition. I'm currently facing the same issue well kinda. My mother is still recovering from a serious cancer surgery and she already mentioned that she wouldn't have the strength to fight for a second time. She doesn't want to wither away in a hospital bed and i support that. If she asked me to end her pain i would do it in a heartbeat without question. Letting loved ones suffer because you don't want to let them go is just cruel and selfish. I will never understand why a supposed civil society is still reluctant to ease their suffering because it's morally wrong.

a reply to: dfnj2015

Agreed!

a reply to: dfnj2015

Everyone should have the inherent right to die if they choose, with dignity and on their own terms. Anyone who stands in the way of that is doing so out of their own selfishness. Nothing will ever change my viewpoint on that.

a reply to: dfnj2015

I'm very much in favour of assisted suicide as long it's embedded in the medical professional and follows a process. The sacredness of life is somewhat imposed on people by society, family and friends. It's definitely got cultural and religious baggage behind it even when we can't see it. There's the political cache too whereby politicians get to overrule the advice of medical panels and say, "It's morally wrong to allow assisted suicide."

Is it morally right to reject assisted suicide? Questions, questions.

Most suicide jump survivors report changing their mind on the way down. There are also (estimated) hundreds of thousands of people who get to old age despite having serial bouts of suicidal thinking. Millions with chronic pains etc.

Here's a story that sums up the difficult decisions (bad language alert).



The closer is a killer lol

a reply to: Kandinsky

That was epic. I didn't notice any bad language...

I'm In favor of it.Like others have said it's My choice,or a loved one's choice.I don't need some bible thumper dictate to Me what I should do..Hell We have more understanding for Pets when they're are suffering,and put to sleep,why not for are fellow Human beings?

So you guys are all in favor of the death penalty right?

a reply to: dfnj2015

Thats why many hold the late Dr. Jack Kervorkian in high esteem. If one wanted, and could prove to him it was their wishes sincerely made and thought out...he helped them find peace.

a reply to: tigertatzen

That might be the very first time I've ever agreed with anything you've said.

originally posted by: ketsuko
So you guys are all in favor of the death penalty right?

Great point! Death penalty okay but assisted suicide is not. Bombing and killing Arabs okay assisted suicide is not.

originally posted by: ketsuko
So you guys are all in favor of the death penalty right?

Does it involve mutual consent?

a reply to: dfnj2015

It IS moral to ease suffering.