Will it ever become a reality? I believe that a few European nations (Belgium, The Netherlands) practice it though in extenuating circumstances.
Most nations that allow it only do it for those who are terminally ill.
Here is a little-known medical fact: you can save yourself a lot of frustrating hard work, and miraculously cure all manner of intractable illnesses, by the simple expedient of terminating the patient!
Make sure you bill them in advance.
It’s kind of circular reasoning, isn’t it?
“You’re mentally ill. We know this because you just tried to kill yourself. Anyone who attempts suicide gets defined as mentally ill. Clearly you are a danger to yourself so we will incarcerate you on a locked ward”.
“I am suffering from a horrible ailment, mental illness, for which there is no cure. I request humane euthaniasia!”
“Oh, hmm, yeah that makes sense, this disease is making you so miserable you’re better off dead”.
There’s no real benefit to defining a behavior as an illness. It’s a metaphor we use because it implies a certain attitude to the person, that they are a victim of their condition and need compassionate care, and not viewed as people with egregious disruptive characteristics who are doing bad things or crazy things. (See also: alcoholism as a disease instead of a bad antisocial sinful behavior). But medicalizing isn’t the only option that doesn’t involve judgmental attitudes. And medicalizing removes agency — maybe it shouldn’t, since we should be respecting patient autonomy and medical self-determination and not treating medical patients in general as passive objects to be fixed by the brilliant doctors and all that, but it gets complicated when the mind in which the self-determination is to reside is the part of the patient that is being considered sick. I don’t think the metaphor has ever worked.
Suicide should be a right for anyone. I think there should be some limitations and regulations of course, if other people are to be involved in it. A time period between registering the intent and acting on it, an investigation to rule out duress and coercion. But life should never be a life sentence. No one signed a permission form agreeing to their birth.
The mentally ill can almost always easily kill themselves without assistance. And if they are institutionalized they can be doped up sufficiently so they no longer have an urgent desire to kill themselves.
Wait two years. It may be available in Canada in 2023. But only for people with a Canadian health card.
I kind of always conceived of it in my own mind as along the lines of suicide is something that I’m mostly ok with as long as the person is in their right mind and making clear decisions about it, but by definition, mentally ill people aren’t really able to make that decision clearly. I mean, the defining characteristic of mental illness is that sufferers aren’t thinking correctly or clearly.
So I have something of an issue with it for mental illness as a result- I’m not seeing how someone can legitimately consent to it if they’re mentally ill enough to warrant phyisican-assisted suicide.
No, it’s not easy. Modern society has gradually gotten safer.
A family member of mine is suicidal, and I’ve seen the scars. Fortunately she doesn’t know how to slit her wrists properly. (I have a biology degree and know how to do that. Fortunately I’ve never been suicidal, and of course I didn’t tell her the proper technique.) One time she tried lying on the road at night, but was still seen by someone who could have run her over and ended up being taken to the hospital.
Suicide via drugs are not reliable. I think they’ve changed the chemical composition of many drugs which were commonly used to commit suicide. Some poisons (such as rat poison) are not as deadly as many people think they are.
Most people who shoot themselves don’t do it right and also use a handgun (because pointing a more powerful gun would be difficult); while most such suicides are successful, using a handgun and pointing it at the wrong place could result in the person surviving, although they may end up suffering from tragic brain damage.
I’ve read that throwing a toaster (or something) into the bathtub is unlikely to work, due to more modern electronics in the toaster (or other electronic device). I doubt it’s safe, just not a reliable way of killing someone.
I’ve read about people who tried using car-generated carbon monoxide, or wrapping a bag around their head, and that didn’t always work. A rope isn’t guaranteed to work, especially if someone doesn’t know how to tie a proper rope, don’t know what height to use, etc. In 1993 a Canadian Special Forces soldier named Clayton Matchee tried to kill himself that way. He survived, but with brain damage. (He was trying to escape murder charges which created a scandal. I guess it worked, because he couldn’t be put on trial due to incompetency, but obviously he didn’t get the result he wanted.) If a Special Forces soldier couldn’t figure out how to tie a rope properly, I’m going to assume many people who want to commit suicide would also be unable to tie a rope properly.
Fear of heights is a pretty basic fear. I don’t think jumping is easy. Some people who do that have to “work” at it, which gives time for witnesses to call the police, such as the time I saw someone try to jump off the roof of a building I worked at. (He took so long that firefighters got up there and stopped him.) Jumping in front of a train at a station is not guaranteed because the train has to slow down as it approaches, which (much like using a gun) could result in a tragic life (rather than death) due to inflicting lesser than expected injuries.
Razors pain you;
Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you;
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren’t lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live.
I disagree, I think it is easy, if you really want to do it. Jump off something really high. You say fear of heights is a problem, but it’s only a problem because the person is scared of dying and they would hesitate with any method in that case. Many suicide attempts are unsuccessful because the person wasn’t ready / didn’t really want to do it / was seeking help etc. You don’t jump in front of a train at a station, you jump in front of a train in the middle of nowhere when the train is at full speed.
In the US, about half of suicides are due to guns and hanging maybe makes up another 25%.
However guns aren’t as easy to get in other nations. In South Korea I believe ingestion of pesticides is the most common method, followed by hanging.
I have no idea if there is anywhere where jumping is the most common method. People generally seem to prefer firearms, hanging or poisoning somehow.
That family member doesn’t have access to the internet?
Suicide is very often not easy. Why? Most people have psychological barriers to killing themselves. Ambivalence towards living vs killing oneself is a constant struggle for the majority with suicidal ideation. Very rarely is it as easy as deciding what to eat for lunch or something. Suicide has profound cultural, personal, social, ethical and moral considerations while where to eat lunch does not. The pain and fear when dying or the consequences if you fail can also be enough to put someone off, at least for a time.
Driving a car into a lake to drown yourself is “easy” but if you would much prefer to get some drug cocktail that puts you to sleep before you die, you are being disingenuous to claim it doesn’t matter which one is offered.
So if the commonly accessible suicide methods are fine and dandy, why should assisted suicide not use them as well? No, suicide is not easy unless enyone who wants one has cheap or free and accesible access to painless, peaceful, non-fear inducing, non-messy and non-vionlent suicide.