Daniel James, 23, youngest Briton to die at assisted suicide clinic

Originally posted by SevenThunders
and no your life does not belong to you, it belongs to the God who made you for a specific purpose. You do not have the right to take your life

No no no no no no no no...

YOUR life belongs to god because YOU believe in your god.

MY life belongs to ME.

Save the arrogant, religious ramblings for YOURSELF and let other people decide what they choose to do with their lives.

I know someone who is almost completely paralysed. He exists, he doesn't live. He has to watch how much he drinks during the day, so he doesn't piss his pants before his carer comes around to wheel him off to the toilet. No, he doesn't have much family support, they snubbed him after his motorbike crash left him paralysed.

People have a right to decide what to do with their lives, including the right to end their miserable existances, if they so choose. Yeah, it's sad, but none of us are going to live forever.

reply to post by SevenThunders


How can you say suicide is not God's will? If it wasn't God's will, it would be impossible to die by self-infliction. This whole God owns you is not a healthy relationship; therefore, I assert that God understands all of life's passages. Why would God shame or look down upon someone in despair?

Children with severe autism can have little concern for self-preservation...they just do not recognize it, and to top it off, their brains can go into cognitive-lock where they tantrum in total dread and agony; they never get the chance to tell anyone how they feel. Despair is personal/subjective. It is a over the top to say, in so many words, "deal with it...." You say that--or have that attitude--to a kid with severe autism having a meltdown, and you'll not only come across like a total insensitive ingoramous, but the situation with the kid will get worse.

We cannot quantify pain, as much as we like to say what things hurt and what things do not. Pain is subjective. You can share your story and that's great, it informs and enlightens, but you cannot say with sound logic that that's it, that's the way.

I, on the other hand, understand pain and empathize with the population of children I described. This world can be terrifying. Love and loss is more than some boring country song or some other form of purple-prose. The "buck-up" approach is old and needs to change. We need to empathize and not blame people for collapsing in this life. The holier-than-thou attitude, no matter how you sugar-coat it, is still holier-than-thou...it bums people out that are already bummed out.

Know your audience I say.

Truly, i can understand his state of mind
and the unbearable pain he would have endured
physically, emotionally etc
when he decided to make this end happen,
and having been through depression
and all of those suicudal thoughts
at such a young age,
i know that he must have felt
like he just could not persevere..
i wouldn't say
that it's an act of the weak,
because anyone who knows
what it feels like to actually wish death
simply wouldn't describe it that way.
I guess some people
are just meant to carry on,
to keep searching, keep persisting..
It is of my opinion
that assisted suicide,
or any assisted death for that matter,
is sickening.
It was obviously this guy's choice,
and not seeded in his brain
by some crazy spontaneous moment..
If you're a fatalist, like me,
you might say that there's
a great cosmic reason
for all of this.
That he was "meant" to die young..
Although i am a fatalist,
this is not what i would say.
In all of my life experience
i doubt i would come close to feeling the pain
this guy did,
what i mean is that i'm not paralysed..
It sounds like he needed a little more "life" support.
What the hell is wrong with people these days??

You just had a near life experience.

[edit on 13/12/08 by pretty_vacant]

sure its his choice but i doubt in a depressed state as he was in that he was of sound mind to even really decide as himself.

he was a cowardly child who ran away from his thoughts, not real pain.

atleast he couldve lived to see a cure unlike many others with disabilities who face slow terrifying death with little to no hope of a cure.

selfish bastard...

It is his life. He can do what he wants.

reply to post by namehere


No.

Have you ever felt the want for death to be upon?? To kill yourself?? You're right, depression is a mental illness - you are seemingly trapped in what literally feels like a negative, downward spiral - you will do anything just to make the pain stop.
To someone who hasn't been able say that they've had this horrible experience it would seem like a selfish act. But i suicidal person rarely thinks of the people are them, because their perspective has been afflicted by temporary insanity. . And the people who surround them could not possibly, in their state of mind compared to the afflicted persons, know how this person feels.
Attempt to put yourself in that situation: imagine yourself being incased by darkness, by hopelessness and despair, the most utterly unbearable sadness you could muster.
That wouldn't truly match that of a person diagnosed with depression.

reply to post by pretty_vacant


thats why im angry, i know very well what its like in his situation, it made me so llonely and frustrated as a kid that i hid it wiith uncontrollable anger and ignored the world around me, even now i get frustrated, angry and even cry just thinking of my situation. But i endure it with no plans of running and dying in despair.

As much as everyone loves each others entitlements to their own, especially their body and beliefs; as a society, I don't see anything wrong with trying to persuade someone other wise of not using death as an answer.

Yea everyone's decision is theirs and theirs alone, but what justifies the experience? pain, sorrow, misfortune? "it's my body, I can do what I want" mentality is fine, but saying "its my body, I can do what I want, can you help me out" is what makes it iffy.

Anyone who objects assisted suicides is only worrying about the slippery slope, and what circumstances justify it. If I am severely depressed and see imminent death as a solution to suffering, would I be allowed an assisted suicide?. - say I do not want to kill myself, but I do want to die, and I want someone to help me through it.

I think it is because, when we look at those who aren't capable of killing themselves due to physical disability, we are more accepting, but when its a person fully capable of jumping off a roof, we say, "hey I can help you, you don't wanna do this." - we try and talk them out of it. you hardly ever hear, I'm terribly sorry about your experience, I have some drugs that will put you away peacefully.

reply to post by namehere


It's like i said in my original post, some are just meant to persevere.
Maybe you are one of these people..?

I know it can seem impossible at times, but i implore you, keep your fondest memories cemented in mind.

Wish you the best

Vacant

reply to post by pretty_vacant


well i suppose so, maybe i just expect more of people than i should.

His decision affects no one but himself. Unless you feel upset about it, in which case, it is your moral obligation to stop being upset and accept his decision.

Originally posted by juveous
but saying "its my body, I can do what I want, can you help me out" is what makes it iffy.

Maybe. Maybe not.

Think of it this way though. He was paralysed, so he needed someone to help him. Quick, painless, less grief.

Now, if he had a fully motorised wheel chair, he could have tipped himself in front of a train, bus, truck, etc... Possibly not quick, very traumatic to other people who witness it.

If he's made the choice to die, which way is it easier for him and others around him?

My old Uncle was riddled with cancer. Many years ago, he caught a bus to the local pier. He managed to struggle down to the end of the pier, where he threw himself into the water. A couple of people saw him, but he was dead when they dragged him out. My old Auntie was naturally sad, but didn't blame him. His time was up. He probably would have chosen the assisted suicide option, to die in privacy with his family. Everyone was amazed that he managed the strength to even walk down the pier. His presence still followed her around the house until she died recently. She knew he was there with her.

reply to post by tezzajw


And I can certainly agree when families come to mutual understandings about things like this, it is a personal matter that is not supposed to affect those not involved.

I think the topic is hard for some because they feel they will be somehow affected by it. Another person's decision to live or not should be able to be carried out with dignity so that it doesn't affect those not intended to be affected, i.e. horrific suicides that traumatize.

though, If I have the intentions of seeing a fit society as a whole, I should be concerned if people take the opportunity to die in dignity as too easy of an option before other help is sought.
does accessibility change our behavior in the way we seek for alternative solutions?