How do you feel about this? I don't mean killing old people. But anyone who wants to be killed, can choose to be killed by the state.

I was on this forum where someone mentioned having read a piece by Emile Durkheim about suicide and how people who are weakly assimilated to their culture are more prone to suicide and that person wondered what if someone doesn't like their culture and their only means of escape is suicide.

Essentially, no one chooses their culture. The culture forces itself upon you from childhood. You grow up in it, and you have no choice but live in it until you are old enough to leave. But what if you can't? Shouldn't a human have the basic option of refusing the culture?

What are the potential advantages and potential abuses of this method? And not only relating to merely culture, but system wide.


I can see the advantage of it, when I remember how train drivers feel when they see someone jump in front of their train, they are traumatized, some for life. It would save the cost of cleanup, and people who are victims of this suicide (train driver in my example) don't have to go into therapy that also costs the system money. Basically someone who commits suicide is starting a very cost consuming chain of events.

I also see disadvantage. When is a decision to do this genuine? Any old emo-kid could want to kill themselves. I read plenty of blogs that have young adults talking about wanting to die. Those are legally adult people, so they could legally then choose for this.

Knowing from personal experience is that you really don't know shit when you are 18, 19, 20 years old. I was walking around with suicidal thoughts when I was 26-27 years old, but now that I look back at that time, I see all that I would have missed had I actually followed through on it. What I mean to say is: aren't those decisions made too swiftly?

And as an effect this assisted suicide would be too fast too easy.


If people want to kill themselves, they will anyway. Nothing you or I or anyone can do about it. Wouldn't the assisted way increase the number, or would the no longer anonymous factor also play a role?


What do you think?

I'm kind of sick of theoretical questions, all I know is that if I want to die I should be allowed to do what I want.

And that's a general thing, I should be allowed to do anything that doesn't cause inconvenience to somebody else. (and if that "inconvenience" is related to me, for example somebody who loves me doesn't want me to die, then my wish still has priority over that inconvenience)

OK you should be allowed, but that is not the main question here

Should an assisting body come to be or not? And why yes or no?

I don't see why not... if there's a demand....

My only problem is with the word inconvenience…

An inconvenience is something minor, a little frustrating yes but something we all have to go through every day. A red light, for example, is inconvenient. Personally I believe nothing, even suicide, should be illegal unless it directly affects the health another person or the integrity of their property. As the worse suicide can do to another person is make them greave it isn’t something that can directly effect their health. So it shouldn’t be something the government has to stick it’s nose into, let alone make illegal!

Those who help do so at the direction of the dieing person and hence are completely blameless in the damage they cause to that persons health. What one does with ones own body, or has someone else do to their body, is completely their own business and no one should have the power to interfere. These bodies are the only thing we truly own, and yet the state seems to believe we belong to them!

Seems the debating issue is largely missed

Should there be an organization to aid in these things yes or no, and why?

Yes, and that is from someone who goes through depression.

Suicide is not an easy thing; there is a lot of psychological pain that comes with complimenting it. The largest fear isn’t that of death itself, if you’re going to commit suicide then you have already faced that fear and overcame it. The largest fear comes in the form of ‘what if I mess it up.’ There are thousands if not millions of examples of suicides gone wrong that leave a person in a worse off state afterwards, and very few things the average person can get their hands on are guaranteed to work.

There is also the pain factor, one of the last things that should go through a persons mind is pain. A system where a person is allowed to die with dignity, for any reason, can easily be one that is pain free and one that will be guaranteed to succeed. For example there are thousands of drugs out there that could do the trick, drifting you off into a mindless state before your main organs shut down, but these drugs are heavily regulated and the average person will never have access to them. Instead they have to rely on drugs that are likely to work, but never fool proof and will cause massive health problems when they fail to succeed. The other option is physical trauma, which is even more painful and has a chance of failure on par with other methods.

I’ve always approved of a system designed to first address the psychological reasons for killing ones self, as physical reasons can’t be addressed (terminal cancer for example), and to offer any help to ‘right’ ones life is needed. If a person still wants to go through with it after talking to a psychiatrist, even just one sitting, then there is no reason why medical personal can not carry out their wishes without fear of being prosecuted for it. Face it, if a person wants it they will try to bring it about so best to give them the option to do so correctly and remove the health implications of a failed attempt.

I think I responded. Yes, if there's a demand. Why? Because there's a demand (or so it appears)

As for inconvenince.... I chose this word after I ruled against saying "anything that doesn't hurt somebody else" because that "hurt" can be manipulated and can create useless debates, like "is it hurting somebody if they asked to be killed"

NO: i don't think there should be an organization. i can't imagine in this day and age that something would exist without mountains of red tape and governmental interference and probably a death tax on top of everything else...just what i'd want; them butting in until the bitter end, like they do in every phase of life. bah.