Today’s Daily Post topic: Do you think people should have the right to commit suicide?
This is a great topic to discuss. You could talk about it on so many levels.
- Assisted suicide
- Right to die
- The Death Penalty
- The rights of the mentally ill or incapacitated
- Living wills
- Hospice
- Religion
- Euthanasia
- Martyrdom
- and so many more…
I remember when I first heard about Doctor Jack Kevorkian and his “Doctor Death” moniker and I thought to myself, is there really anything wrong with what this guy is doing?
Look at it this way– people were terminally ill and they didn’t want to suffer so they asked for the help of someone that they thought they could trust in order to have control over their demise.
But for some reason it became a huge legal conundrum that shook the United States to the core.
My question is why should the government have a say in when or how we die? I don’t think they should. Sure if it is an act of violence (ie. murder, homicide, manslaughter, etc.) I think the government should step in to protect us, but under any other circumstance they should stay out of it.
I have a living will. I drafted it about the same time I was married to my wife Michele. It explicitly states that if I am beyond maintaining any quality life then I expect her to make the right decision.
I may be at the extreme fringes by wanting my wishes met for assisted suicide if I was the unable to care for myself in a capacity that would call for constant care (ie. quadriplegic, hospice, terminal cancer, brain damage, etc.).
Also, in a belief that many find controversial I firmly believe that most of the time people keep their loved ones alive for greedy or self fulfilling reasons. Think about it would you want to be kept barely alive in a nursing home just so that your kids (or whomever) are not ready to let you go?
I know what you are going to say– many people of severe accidents can lead fulfilling lives and still contribute to their families, society and for the greater good.
In my opinion, I respectfully disagree…
I would love to hear your comments and suggestions on this. I am sure your views are very different than mine.
