At what age would you legalize assisted suicide no matter what the condition?

[Gonnerr]

At what age would you legalize assisted suicide no matter what the condition?

 

[todiefor]

Excellent question!
Although, I think this highly depends on how old the person doing the poll is, because everyone here wants to ctb, they can't really imagine being older than they already are right now, but by the time they are older maybe their vote would be swayed to an older age

 

[Jolene79]

I read an article where a mum was trying to seek assisted suicide for her severely impaired daughter. The impairment was severe and quality of life was obviously hideous. I understand the risks with this but why cant each case be looked at individually. They of course declined. The mum ended up killing herself not long after

 

[Bronzehawkattack]

If someone is old enough to go to war, they're old enough to kill themselves.

Funnily enough, this is explicitly one of the reasons why, even if state sanctioned suicide were a thing, the age would AT LEAST be past drafting age, because you gotta have your healthy little cogs ready to go.

 

[FuneralCry]

I would legalise it for everyone, nobody should have to stay here for a second longer than they wish to. All humans deserve a right to die in peace as without that existence would be no different to slavery and imprisonment, humans shouldn't have to suffer just because other people lacked awareness and as a result so cruelly forced life into this world filled with endless potential to suffer.

Forcing people to endure existence against their wishes when they want to die would be inhumane and anyway suicide could never be "wrong". There are no disadvantages to not existing and we are all just waiting around to die anyway so it should always be up to the individual when to leave, death is the most normal thing after all and I never understand those who see existence as being something so valuable to the point they want to deny people a right to die.

Existence is meaningless, pointless and unnecessary but also so harmful, I see existence itself as being a horrific mistake. And I see suicide as being self care as it's the permanent relief and escape from suffering, like I said denying people relief from suffering will always be inhumane, allowing people the right to die is compassionate.

 

[Praestat_Mori]

Assisted suicide should be available from the age of 18 regardless and without any restrictions.

Assisted suicide should also be available for younger people should their life consist mostly of agony, pain, suffering but in this case parents must be involved.

 

[Lost Magic]

Well, Exit International only accept people over the age of 50 for their group, however, Dr. Philip Nitschke's own personal view is that any age is valid depending on the level of suffering. I believe in what Nitschke has to say about it. I hate to see people needlessly suffering for years and years on end. We do not have good end-of-life procedures even for the terminally ill (in most countries). We should start there, at least.

 

[Wowser]

18, unless the kid is in mental or physical agony.

 

[whywere]

I have a really hard time with this question, and it is a really good one. Makes me think a lot about various aspects of humans and human nature.

There is really no age that is correct in my viewpoint. Each and every person is so unique upon themselves, both physically and mentally that there is no "one size fits all" approach to this question.

As far as through the decades, I have met, worked and the like with folks, where some who were in their twenties acted like they were much older AND vice versa as far as I have met folks in their fifties who acted like they were in their twenties and wanted to go clubbing all the time.

Assisted suicide is unique to/for each person on this planet and it is never a broad paintbrush stroke for all as a single answer but a single answer for each and every single soul.

Walter

 

[busybee]

Generally, no matter what condition:
The brain takes to the mid to late 20s to fully mature so I think 30 would be a good middleground. Also it would help the staff since assisting a bunch of what in their eyes might be 'kids' would take a big toll on them in the long run. Just mandatory councelling of the concequences/risks/pain etc. before they can expire.

Additionally I would add a case to case system where with 2 medical or psychological evaluations and a councelling session on what exactly will happen the person can go die. Parents deciding for children would additionally need an evaluation that they do not have ill intend and mandatory therapy after.

Also there needs to be a system on who can assist or else murderers got a big loophole.

 

[Daxter_87]

I would legalise it for everyone, nobody should have to stay here for a second longer than they wish to. All humans deserve a right to die in peace as without that existence would be no different to slavery and imprisonment, humans shouldn't have to suffer just because other people lacked awareness and as a result so cruelly forced life into this world filled with endless potential to suffer.

Forcing people to endure existence against their wishes when they want to die would be inhumane and anyway suicide could never be "wrong". There are no disadvantages to not existing and we are all just waiting around to die anyway so it should always be up to the individual when to leave, death is the most normal thing after all and I never understand those who see existence as being something so valuable to the point they want to deny people a right to die.

Existence is meaningless, pointless and unnecessary but also so harmful, I see existence itself as being a horrific mistake. And I see suicide as being self care as it's the permanent relief and escape from suffering, like I said denying people relief from suffering will always be inhumane, allowing people the right to die is compassionate.

FuneralCry is one of the few people who truly gets it.

I voted "other", because I think it should be from birth. All these restrictions, waiting periods, etc., are all evil, as they create separation, them-and-us. A 30 years old is allowed to die peacefully because they have "grown up" and are "mature" and "capable of making rational decisions". However, a 5 years old is not allowed, because they aren't those things. Imagine suffering immensely and wanting out (or simply wanting out, the child doesn't need to be in agony due to diseases, illnesses, etc.), and all that adults can say is: "Nop, this is for the grown ups, you have to go throught more years of suffering in order to be eligible for assisted-suicide".

 

[Ernest1964]

People on this web site know that I have helped others get N from Mexico. I recently had an "18 year old" contact me wanting me to take them to buy N in Tijuana. I was seriously conflicted about that possibility. On one hand I strongly believe in self determination and the right of the individual to make their own choice about when to leave this planet. I also work with teenagers and I remember being a teenager. I would not have been right with helping this "18 year old" obtain the medication needed to end it all. I am not putting myself in the place of deciding who deserves to CTB or not, but in a way... am I? I declined to help this young person. For all I know he could have actually been 16 but looked a bit older. I just couldn't bring myself to help him. He did not tell me anything about being physically ill (Cancer etc...), just emotional issues. Maybe he just broke up with his first girlfriend, I don't know. So on the poll I voted for 30 years old because by that age, the uncertainty of adolescence and puberty has passed. Am I wrong in this thinking? I appreciate the discussion.

 

[SpiderLink]

At what age would you legalize assisted suicide no matter what the condition?

It really depends on the situation. Some people don't want to exist, while others are in deep pain and want to heal, but can't.

 

[Praestat_Mori]

just emotional issues. Maybe he just broke up with his first girlfriend, I don't know. So on the poll I voted for 30 years old because by that age, the uncertainty of adolescence and puberty has passed. Am I wrong in this thinking? I appreciate the discussion.

I think your decision was right here as this guy didn't give any further information about his personal situation, while still being young. It's really such a difficult point while things are clear with terminal illness, cancer and so on things become unclearer with many other things that could bring one to the point of wanting to ctb during a life time such as big failure, divorce, loss of sth important and many other things that do not really affect the body physically but have a (temporary) mental effect. We're still humans and our basics instincts also tell us to save lives whether we want that or not.

I think that given a large enough group the possibility to ctb peacefully and they have "less severe reasons" although they might be servere for one personally that the majority of this group will not CTB due to SI kicking in preventing the action in the last seconds.

I have a lot of thoughts about this topic and I can't really put them into written words it's really complex stuff here about this topic but in any case I'm pro-choice for anyone who considers ctb for their own personal reasons.