• Question: If people are having a horible life should they have the right to comit suicide or other people give them uthanasia

    Asked by nic27 to Michael, Panos, Sarah on 24 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Michael Loughlin

      Michael Loughlin answered on 24 Jun 2010:

      Oh crikey what a good and hard to answer question.

      I am a fan of Terry Pratchett the author , and i tend to agree with what he wrote and Tony Robinson read in a recent lecture (this link is the first of 6 youtubes)
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUE3pBIuAGk

      I am scared of losing my faculties eventually..or having a mind but unable to communciate my wishes and I certainly would want to have the option to end my life in a dignified manner.
      Where it gets harder is ensuring people are not being bullied or persuaded into making that choice…

      exceptionally good question…I have the lecture playing the background now..well worth a listen

    • Photo: Sarah Burl

      Sarah Burl answered on 24 Jun 2010:

      There are many definitions of ‘horrible life’. I do believe in euthanasia for terminally ill patients who would rather be in control of their own death rather than wait to get sicker and sicker before finally dying anyway.
      If yo feel like you are unhappy then there are many ways ot help this situation and most people will get better and find it hard to belive that they ever felt so bad. Life is a difficult time as a teenager and I remember feeling really troubled at times but now life is so great but I wouldn’t be the person I am without having gone through some bad times in my life. People are very desperate to committ suicide and the sad thing is that a lot of these cases are really just cries for help! I know two people who have committed suicide, one was an old boyfriend and one was my old boss, both left a trail of very unhappy people who continual to wonder if they could have done something to stop it. It is often those that are left that suffer more than the person who did it so I think it is quite selfish however they are not worrying about other people when they decide life is not worth living anymore.

    • Photo: Panos Soultanas

      Panos Soultanas answered on 24 Jun 2010:

      Hello Nic27,

      This is a very sensitive issue and we could debate it for a long time. Many very complicated factors may drive some vulnerable people into committing suicide under certain circumstances. the key here is not whether we permit suicide or not but instead what we can do to help such people so that they can see life from a different perspective. Can we help people face up to their problems and find solutions to overcome them? Can we invest time in such people to make them feel good again about life and about themselves?

      I think this is the key to this issue. Life is a wonderful thing and much enjoyable too. If some people fall victims of certain circumstances and they become too depressed and desperate we, as a responsible and compassionate society, should have the right mechanisms in place to help such people and re-energize them about life.

      On the other hand if the reason for someone contemplating suicide is because of a terminal illness that causes much suffering then perhaps we should reconsider certain things. There are many medicines that help alleviate pain and offer a reasonable quality of life but in very desperate circumstances that pain and illness become unbearable then I would argue that life belongs to individuals and they have a right to do what they want.

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