Terry Pratchett ready to be test case for suicide law

jp_bl_68 said:
If you're totally healthy then why would you need assistance?
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Dunno, there are numerous reasons but the option should be there. At least it'd be better than them jumping in front of train or something where they feel that have to resort to a 'worse' method.

I'm pretty sure some of the people who went to Switzerland to have it done were healthy.
 
jp_bl_68 said:
If you're totally healthy then why would you need assistance? (Also, someone that wants to die cannot be totally healthy)
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Assistance doesn't necessarily have to be in the medical form, some may wish for their loved ones to be around them at their moment of passing and ensure that they aren't in trouble for not stopping them.
 
Fenris said:
Comparing an animal to a human is like comparing a Car to a Bicycle, we are superior in nearly every way, regardless of how you look at it. Actually quite a good comparison really if you take into account the effect our superiority has, need for fuel and pollution as a by product of our desire for "bigger and better" and the fact we eternally strive to better ourselves and further our own species.
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Superior in every way except that virtually all our senses are less developed than other animals, we're slow, weak, vunerable to disease and other animals outperform us in some cognitive tasks, not to mention we have done so much to destroy the planet...

"Superior" is completely arbiritary and arrogant tbh, exactly what I'd expect from the bible.
 
Fenris said:
Animals are driven by instinct, they have no reason to want to better their species, for all they know their species consists of the 10/20 other members of it they run into in their lives, they're lives consist of Exist > Breed > Die, nothing else. Also please feel free to give me an example of an animal that has become more "advanced" over the last oo lets say 500 years, besides possible learning to use a differently shaped rock to break open nuts. Animals are constantly killed by things like deforestation, I think if they had any understand of preservation of their species they would have moved.

Yes of course animals have brains but beyond basic logical games and again, instinct driven actions, they don't do anything with them, they have no concept of good/evil and no conscience. They don't have "marriage" they have mates, all that proves is they stay in "packs" for their lives rather than mating with others, it is not a "tradition".

And no superiority is not subjective in this case, we are superior in EVERY way besides possibly the physical.

Also in my Care/Bike example I said that the car was not all good, which is the reason it is accurate.



If you want to continue this further do it in another thread.
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Animals just functioning by instinct is an outmoded concept, I believe scientists dont use it much anymore to describe most animal behaviours. Lots of studies have proven that animals have emotions, every animal does because emotions come from the lower parts of the brain. Mammals have only a few innate instinctual behaviours, two being the kill and chase reflex, the rest is way more complex

In fact its almost impossible to function without emotions, as exampled by people with brain damage.

Lots of studies(from less close minded scientists) are beginning to prove that animals think, not in the way we do but in images, not words. They are able to formulate plans and goals and carry out a series of actions to fulfill that goal. Animals are way more complex than most people think, they are nothing like instinct machines. You just have to watch them closely to know there is more going on than just following some mythical catch all instinct.

Some people/races dont have a concept of good and evil. Not like we do have in the west born of the christian faith.

People should be allowed to choose themselves or those around them allowed to choose if they are to live. There may be mistakes made(they would be very very very few), but there is no universal god or law that knows the truth or will judge. Only those persons involved, they will or will not be judged if there is or isnt an after life, or by the law.

You cant just say no to everyone because you know a very tiny minority will abuse it. You might as well say no to cigarettes or alcohol, or walking on the grass.
 
personally i believe euthanasia should be an option assessed on a case by case basis.

For me the ability to say goodbye to someone is my main reason for support.

My granddad (79) has been suffering from alzheimer for the past few years and it is horrible. I would have loved to have said goodbye to him and him be able to know who i am.
 
jp_bl_68 said:
Can you give an example?
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Someone who feels that they are in a hopeless situation due to despair or a difficult life are often ones who commit suicide. These people are often healthy (both physically and mentally) but are unable to see a way out.

Suicide isn't an easy way out and should never be suggested that it's for cowards. For some it is their only option.
 
jp_bl_68 said:
I'm not a doctor but I do know that wanting to die isn't healthy or natural. If someone wants to prematurely end their life they cannot be healthy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_depressive_disorder#Symptoms_and_signs
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Why is that though? Why can't people just end their lives because they don't want to continue to live for any 'trivial' reason - be that they don't like their life, they have accomplished everything they want and therefore don't wish to continue or any host of other reasons.

There is absolutely NO reason for us to actually live - we do it because it's wired into us that we ought to live. Though though no one can provide any reason for that - beyond bringing new children into the World, which is futile in itself when it all boils down.
 
Angleboy said:
You havnt said a single thing wich is pertinent to the individual wishing to end their own lives - Being pressured into something is not Euathenasia.
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Euthanasia - "a deliberate intervention undertaken with the express intention of ending a life, to relieve intractable suffering"

All the word refers to is the act of assisting suicide of a person who is suffering severely enough, the reason doesn't come into it.

What if their expressed intention is not of their own choosing? That's the point I was trying to make, imagine a family with say a critically ill or severely brain damaged member older member, grandparent perhaps, has to be looked after by everyone and can not function alone yet is capable of discerning whether or not they want to die but not able to act on it, they look at the family who are clearly not enjoying have to look after them and think maybe they would be better of without them, is that a just cause for them to want assisted suicide?

Clearly it isn't, they could be relocated to a care home or given an aid or any other possibility to give the family less responsibility for their care, making them both happier.

How about if instead of this person simply not wanting to be a strain on the family, the family actually tells this person they would be better off dead and they can't be bothered caring for them, they give them a choice of assisted suicide or neglect.

Would you let either of these people go in for an assisted death knowing it's not what they actually want? I doubt it, the problem being there is no way of knowing if these people convince themselves its what they have to do.

These are reasons why it should never be a simply option, too many variables and outside influences that can cause people to think in ways they normally couldn't, be it depression or as above, thinking of their family or any number of others.


As Bledd said, it should be dealt with on a case by case basis.
 
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