Did you check with those who loved her to see if they feel as though they’ve been deprived? Do you think they care what your opinion is of her decision? Maybe you shouldn’t argue on their behalf unless you know that they feel the way you do. Its pretty insensitive to them.
And once again we see the hubris that claims “I understand your life better than you do, so I should make the decisions concerning your life.”
No … life was being taken from her a little at a time. It’s not for you or anybody else to say when it’s enough.
To what end? So she could die experience horrendous pain?
According to what I’ve read, those who loved her agreed with her decision. Once again, that’s their decision to make not yours. And that time would not have been spent reliving joyous memories or planning their next Hawaiian vacation, but would be spent watching someone writhe in unendurable, unrelenting pain which at this point, no medication would take away.
If you think deciding to commit suicide is somehow “easy” then you are severely deluded, my friend.
I could be wrong and I’d be interested if you have a cite, but I sincerely doubt any of her doctors were begging her to stay alive just a little bit more so they could continue using her as a research monkey.
Both take courage. Taking your life requires courage; so does enduring continuing pain.
And to use an extreme example, sometimes “immediately and permanently ceasing your existence out of fear” makes logical sense - spies have committed suicide in the face of imminent capture rather than face torture, giving up vital info, then being killed anyway.
Cowardly selfish fuckers.
Indeed.
There is a Death out there for each of us. If we are lucky, our own will be patient, but also quiet, and there will be little space for fear and pain.
Brittany Maynard saw hers coming. Especially swift, and especially cruel. Hers sought to rob and hurt, before it slew.
Rather than be helplessly overtaken, she turned to meet it, in a place and moment and manner of her choosing. But first she shared herself and her choice with the world. In so doing, she struck a mighty blow for human rights and dignity.
I am humbled before her.
I support her decision to end her life with dignity and on her own terms. And being an atheist, I don’t believe in hell, and if I did believe in one, I don’t believe she ended up in it. I choose to believe she escaped from hell here on earth.
Smapti, let’s test your views with a hypothetical.
Let’s say there’s someone with locked in syndrome who experiences constant, excruciating pain. They can’t move, they only experience pain, and their life is nothing but constant suffering.
ANd let’s say, hypothetically, that in order to keep this person alive, we need the spare resources of every single human being on the planet. All 7 billion people must work every day to their physical and mental capabilities - most people will work for 18 hours a day, and sleep for a few, only to return to work. Everyone eats nothing but the most basic sustenance, and no one has any luxuries, comforts, or recreational activities. All of these people must give up all those resources so that we can keep that miserable person alive.
Would this be a worthwhile endeavor? If the value of being alive is infinite as you say, and trumps any suffering, then logically, it would be.
If you admit that it’s not, then at some point you’ve decided that some amount of suffering trumps being alive. In which case you lose your absolutes - it becomes an argument about where to draw the line.
So knock them out with pain killers while doctors poke, prod, slice, dice and take tissue samples. Yeah, that’s living life to the fullest. :rolleyes:
I’ve been in constant pain most of my life due to various tooth problems. It’s been so bad at times that I couldn’t sleep or drive or think about anything other than how painful it was. I have never contemplated suicide.
My mother has suffered from and survived uterine cancer, hepatitis C, and PTSD. I would never encourage her to commit suicide.
I understand my grandfather went through that at the end of his life. He didn’t commit suicide and toughed it out to the age of 83.
My grandmother has Alzheimer’s. I would never encourage her to commit suicide.
That’s the entire basis of civilization - making decisions concerning other people’s lives.
Correct. “Anybody else” includes the patient him/herself.
Correct. You must place a very low value on life if you think that pain is worth ending it over.
I’m sure that’s what they said.
I’d rather have memories of a loved one in pain than have memories of them as a rotting piece of meat.
It’s very easy. All you have to do is flip a switch or press a button or pull a trigger and all your problems are gone.
Begging? Perhaps not. Would the data derived from her life have helped nonetheless? Yes.
And who knows? It’s entirely possible she could have gone into spontaneous remission and lived another 50 years. She robbed herself and the world of that possibility.
There is absolutely nothing dignified about killing yourself. The lesson she is teaching here is that if your life is tough, if you have problems, if you’re in pain or sick, all you have to do is kill yourself and your problems will all go away. How many lives are going to be thrown away senselessly because of her bad example?
In the long run, there will be more blood on her hands than her own.
Not if you have a clear understanding of the English language.
Taking your life requires the complete absolute opposite of courage, because it grants you instant reprieve from your obligations and the consequences of your actions.
Yes, provided that each one of those people has the guarantee that the same amount of effort will eventually be provided to preserve their own life.
You left off “or dying of a painful disease with no hope of recovery”
Why?
Because it’s irrelevant. She’s setting an example that it’s OK to take the easy way out.
Holy fuck, that’s cold. I’m sure your loved ones would be thrilled to hear that.
Call suicide what you will, but it is not cowardly. It takes guts.
That doesn’t make it morally right. But it takes considerable daring. Most people fear death, and suicide takes that fear head-on.
Says the guy who would refuse to save his own children from death if it meant any risk to his own life.
Ms. Maynard has no reason to be troubled by this person calling her a coward.
But you’re extrapolating something that no one is saying. No one is saying that suicide is a preferable option just because you have a tough life and want out. But in this specific circumstance, her quality of life pretty much didn’t exist and her chances of recovery were as close to nil as you can get. In that case, accepting death on your own terms rather than choosing a agonizingly painful death looks to me to be the more rational choice.