# Deaths that sort of define a person

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-that-sort-of-define-a-person/986999>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 13, 2023, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-that-sort-of-define-a-person/986999 "2023-07-13T19:14:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 92

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**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\
**Post date:** [July 14, 2023, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-that-sort-of-define-a-person/986999/92 "2023-07-14T00:57:24Z")

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> [@Spice\_Weasel](#):
>
> > [@nearwildheaven](#):
> >
> > I also wish people would stop saying Robin Williams died by suicide. Yes, he chose to end his life, but he also had Lewy Body Dementia, which causes paranoia and depression, and is especially cruel among the dementias because people can live in the terminal phase for a decade or longer.
> 
> A lot of things cause depression, I don’t see the point in differentiating the reasons why someone commits suicide. It’s not like there are more righteous suicides than others, with the possible exception of cowards like Epstein.

Here’s one whole thread on dementia and self-euthanasia.

> [@Euthanasia of dementia patients](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/euthanasia-of-dementia-patients/978819):
>
> I work at a long-term care facility as a nurse aide. The experience has changed my views on certain topics including the extremely controversial idea of euthanasia. I see the very elderly, bed-ridden, in non-stop pain, with open sores, no bladder or bowel control, being spoon fed pureed food, just waiting for death and I have to wonder if it would just be an act of mercy to put them out of their misery. Some people with advanced dementia compulsively rip their clothes off, masturbate in public…

And another that starts on a different topic and morphs into the same topic.

> [@Where's the best place to end up if you're old with dementia?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-best-place-to-end-up-if-youre-old-with-dementia/978865):
>
> Inspired by this thread: [Euthanasia of dementia patients - Great Debates - Straight Dope Message Board](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/euthanasia-of-dementia-patients/978819/15) If you can’t be in your own home and you can afford private pay…are the memory care “communities” of assisted living facilities much nicer than Medicaid-funded skilled nursing homes? Some of them even offer private studio apartments.

In both of which a lot of people agree they’d totally prefer to kill themselves than suffer through the end game of dementia. IOW there totally _are_ righteous suicides.

What those ~200 posts also demonstrate is that our society has some severe hang-ups about what ought to be, for those of at least semi-sound mind, a completely acceptable personal decision.

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