Thread: Right to Commit Suicide?

So, basically what you're saying, nitsuJ, is it's his choice. Free will, right? Please, correct me if I'm misunderstanding you. Yes, there is free will. And, if through his suicide he doesn't impinge on anyone else, I kind of agree with that.

Free will, though, is not an excuse to whatever the hell you want. I'll have to pinch another quote from Terry Pratchett for this (somewhat paraphrased):

"There is always a choice."
"You mean I could choose certain death?"
"A choice nevertheless, or perhaps an alternative. You see I believe in freedom. Not many people do, although they will of course protest otherwise. And no practical definition of freedom would be complete without the freedom to take the consequences. Indeed, it is the freedom upon which all the other are based."

Basically, that's free will for me. Yes, you can do whatever you want, but you're going to have to face the consequences if you really believe it's an excuse to do whatever you want.

I realise that was a bit of a tangent. I just wanted to get that out.

Originally Posted by Kiza

So, basically what you're saying, nitsuJ, is it's his choice. Free will, right? Please, correct me if I'm misunderstanding you. Yes, there is free will. And, if through his suicide he doesn't impinge on anyone else, I kind of agree with that.

Free will, though, is not an excuse to whatever the hell you want. I'll have to pinch another quote from Terry Pratchett for this (somewhat paraphrased):



Basically, that's free will for me. Yes, you can do whatever you want, but you're going to have to face the consequences if you really believe it's an excuse to do whatever you want.

I realise that was a bit of a tangent. I just wanted to get that out.

So you disagree that suicide should be a person's choice, because I'm talking about free will to commit suicide, and you've kind of confused me with the "Free will, though, is not an excuse to whatever the hell you want." statement! :p

Everyone knows the consequences of suicide, death. That's the only thing they'll have to face if they succeed.

Yeah, that probably was confusing. Really, I was agreeing with you. The other freewill bit was just a random tangent, because I'm a pretentious bastard. Yes, the only consequence of suicide is death. I was just ranting on about people who use "free will" as an excuse to do whatever the hell they want. Once again, to me, most of the time suicide is the wrong choice. They have the right, but that doesn't mean they're right to do so.

Heh. I'm hilarious.

Originally Posted by Kiza

Yeah, that probably was confusing. Really, I was agreeing with you. The other freewill bit was just a random tangent, because I'm a pretentious bastard. Yes, the only consequence of suicide is death. I was just ranting on about people who use "free will" as an excuse to do whatever the hell they want. Once again, to me, most of the time suicide is the wrong choice. They have the right, but that doesn't mean they're right to do so.

Heh. I'm hilarious.

I agree with what you've said. I think suicide is dumb, and a coward's way out.

I believe if some people just sat and thought to themselves, "is suicide really worth it," they'd change their minds. Most of the time people commit suicide because of relationship problems, probably. That's the majority of suicide reasons I've heard of. Relationship problems, seriously? You must be kidding me. Think of all the kids/adults that's abused physically/verbally every day by their parents/spouses/partners. The people starving each day not knowing when the next time they'll get a meal. The people laying in a hospital bed somewhere slowly dying and in extreme pain. Not to mention other problems. Does that relationship problem look as bad as these others now? I doubt it does.

Some people are just spoiled and come to dumb conclusions. Suicide is never the answer, it doesn't really solve your problems if you really think about it. Suicide does more harm than good the majority of the time anyways.

Right.

Maybe one more obvious reason why suicide is illegal is to try to discourage people from trying it. That is, you can try it, but you'll be in big trouble if you fail.

I do wonder what the general public's reaction would be if suddenly it was announced that suicide is legal.

Originally Posted by Mes Tarrant

Right.

Maybe one more obvious reason why suicide is illegal is to try to discourage people from trying it. That is, you can try it, but you'll be in big trouble if you fail.

I do wonder what the general public's reaction would be if suddenly it was announced that suicide is legal.

Probably be a huge outcry!

I wonder if it became legal would all of the kids that cry "suicide" for attention still do it?

It may just be my severe sleep deprivation . . . but isn't it?

United States

In the United States, suicide has never been punished as a crime nor penalized by property forfeiture or ignominious burial.[citation needed] Historically, various states listed the act as a felony, but all were reluctant to enforce it. By 1963, six states still considered attempted suicide a crime (North and South Dakota, Washington, New Jersey, Nevada, and Oklahoma that repealed its law in 1976). By the early 1990s only two US states still listed suicide as a crime, and these have since removed that classification. In some U.S. states, suicide is still considered an unwritten "common law crime," that is, a crime based on the law of old England as stated in Blackstone's Commentaries. (So held the Virginia Supreme Court in Wackwitz v. Roy in 1992.) As a common law crime, suicide can bar recovery for the family of the suicidal person in a lawsuit unless the suicidal person can be proven to have been "of unsound mind." That is, the suicide must be proven to have been an involuntary, not voluntary, act of the victim in order for the family to be awarded money damages by the court. This can occur when the family of the deceased sues the caregiver (perhaps a jail or hospital) for negligence in failing to provide appropriate care.[4] Some legal scholars look at the issue as one of personal liberty. According to Nadine Strossen, President of the ACLU, "The idea of government making determinations about how you end your life, forcing you...could be considered cruel and unusual punishment in certain circumstances, and Justice Stevens in a very interesting opinion in a right-to-die [case] raised the analogy."[5]

In many jurisdictions medical facilities are empowered or required to commit anyone whom they believe to be suicidal for evaluation and treatment. See Code 5150 for example.