Discussion Concerns about the right to die from the perspective of someone who needs it

[Unending]

Whatever I am about to type will probably be a disorganized ramble as always.

Lately I have been thinking a lot about the right to die and how backwards things are in terms of legislation and public perception when it comes to this important topic. As a person suffering from chronic debilitating mental illness, even typing this out feels like somewhat of an impossible task but I figured it would do some good to put my thoughts out there rather than letting them bounce around my head some more resulting in an endless loop when I could type something instead or really anything besides endlessly looping.

It's an obviously horrible situation to be in when you know that you need out of life due to a totally intolerable situation and just can't do it in the ideal way due to the fact that very little progress has been made on the right to die, especially for mentally ill people. Of course there is sn and I am glad to say I have finally acquired mine after quite some time of debating ordering it out of the fear of my package bring intercepted but anyways, why the hell should I have to consider myself lucky to obtain sn when nembutal exists and isn't even an expensive drug to produce?

Why should the death of someone who is planning to opt out either way be made less peaceful when we know that prohibition isn't effective? Prohibition very obviously does nothing to stop one from voluntarily ending their own life and only works to make it less dignified, effectively punishing people who are already being punished because they simply got unlucky in life.

I've heard the slippery slope argument frequently come up and see that many of those in opposition to the right to die claim to be fearful that there will be innocent casualties suffered wherever the right to die is legal and for one, there should obviously be some safeguards in place but is this really an excuse to write off people's very real needs that have gone unmet for far too long as it is?

No, it isn't! Imagine if we applied this logic in other places. No one who I've ever met would propose that we should outlaw driving to avoid the certain number of road casualties that will occur every year. Instead, most people understand that this is the whole reason why any individual who wants to drive must get their license to demonstrate that driving will be safe for them and others around them. So yeah, while driving and ending one's own life are two different things, I think that the comparison serves it's purpose to show that there is no excuse to deny the right to euthanasia based on this argument as long as a system is put in place that works to minimize any potential issues that are a concern as well as helping an individual determine if this is what they really want.

I really would like to see some sort of social change for this in my lifetime, however long that may be. I know that there is a seemingly much larger chance that I won't see this change during my time on earth even if I do somehow make it through the average life expectancy of someone in my country but would like to be optimistic about it since it just seems absurdly ridiculous that grown adults could ignore how solid the arguments are for the right to die, regardless of how emotional the topic may be for those opposed as well as the fact that policies against allowing individuals a peaceful death are literally tormenting people with chronic illnesses and forcing them and their family to suffer further trauma and agony.

Alright that's about all I can type for now.

Thanks for reading.

 

[SilentSadness]

I agree that the right to die is completely overlooked. The idea that there will be "innocent casualties" just seems ridiculous as not only is suicide not a crime, but you would have to explicitly agree to die. The people who "survive" suicidal thoughts are victims of gaslighting from the pro-life system anyway. I wish for nothing more than to die a peaceful death, preferably with Nembutal, sadly I can't because other people have gone out of their way to restrict its sale. Eventually, I am sure I will have to settle for a brutal method and most likely fail several times before I succeed, the way suicidal people are treated is awful as well. I hope you find peace from your unfair illness.

 

[Keepuperer]

I'm in a weird spot where I'm profoundly disabled (schizophrenia, autism and C-PTSD, unable to work or leave the house without support), but I've also worked with a lot of other profoundly disabled young adults, most of whom had intellectual disabilities and conditions like cerebral palsy. Personally, I think that dickhead doctors and family members will inevitably pressure their disabled relatives into euthanasia and that although checks and balances would inevitably exist to sus out coercion, any such system can certainly be exploited. This is a concern echoed by a lot of disability rights organisations. We currently live in a context where parents of disabled kids sometimes murder their children and receive reduced sentences and / or are sentenced to psychiatric care instead of the same prison you'd go to for murdering a non-disabled kid. The Autism Advocacy Network unironically has a "how not to murder your child" kit lol. To say that there won't be cases like this is unfortunately very naive. I mean shit dude, in my country women with disabilities are routinely chemically sterilised without their knowledge or consent, and this practice is still totally legal. Things are pretty bad!

With that said, I personally view my conditions as a reduced life expectancy, which is kinda just how the medical literature surrounding it reads. Like, autism and schizophrenia both result in early death. Schizophrenics tend to die sixteen years younger than the average life expectancy, much younger if they're unable to work like myself, and according to some studies in some regions, the average age of death for autism is about thirty six years old (others place it in the mid-50s). So, with that in mind, I'd view euthanasia for myself as just opting out of a terminal condition before I inevitably become homeless and unable to access medicine.

 

[FuneralCry]

I view it as being extremely cruel how as humans there is a lack of acceptance towards what should be a basic human right. We are all destined to die anyway so people should be able to take control over when they exit in a peaceful way, as humans we deserve the option to die in peace without struggle after so cruelly being forced into existence in the first place. There is just nothing to be gained from the futile process that is life, and it's an unnecessary burden existing here.

 

[Unending]

I'm in a weird spot where I'm profoundly disabled (schizophrenia, autism and C-PTSD, unable to work or leave the house without support), but I've also worked with a lot of other profoundly disabled young adults, most of whom had intellectual disabilities and conditions like cerebral palsy. Personally, I think that dickhead doctors and family members will inevitably pressure their disabled relatives into euthanasia and that although checks and balances would inevitably exist to sus out coercion, any such system can certainly be exploited. This is a concern echoed by a lot of disability rights organisations. We currently live in a context where parents of disabled kids sometimes murder their children and receive reduced sentences and / or are sentenced to psychiatric care instead of the same prison you'd go to for murdering a non-disabled kid. The Autism Advocacy Network unironically has a "how not to murder your child" kit lol. To say that there won't be cases like this is unfortunately very naive. I mean shit dude, in my country women with disabilities are routinely chemically sterilised without their knowledge or consent, and this practice is still totally legal. Things are pretty bad!

With that said, I personally view my conditions as a reduced life expectancy, which is kinda just how the medical literature surrounding it reads. Like, autism and schizophrenia both result in early death. Schizophrenics tend to die sixteen years younger than the average life expectancy, much younger if they're unable to work like myself, and according to some studies in some regions, the average age of death for autism is about thirty six years old (others place it in the mid-50s). So, with that in mind, I'd view euthanasia for myself as just opting out of a terminal condition before I inevitably become homeless and unable to access medicine.

I don't think that there wouldn't be cases like this to consider. My point is that this is no reason to deny the right to a peaceful death to those who are living in pure horror. I don't know why it is deemed acceptable to deny people of their very real unmet needs instead of finding ways to work around the concerns of those who oppose it, minimizing the possibility of others who don't want to die being killed.

If we followed this logic elsewhere, many things would be illegal that are currently legal under the condition that there will be safe guards and systems put in place to minimize unintended harm.

I find it very hard to believe that we just can not even work towards a functional right to die system that has waiting periods along means of insuring responsible and genuine decisions just because there is a potential problem.

Yes, a system should not be put in place if it isn't well thought out and developed to be efficient in safe guarding vulnerable people but I just don't think it's fair to say that because there could be harm to innocent people that all those who NEED to get out of their torment must hang themselves or blow their brains out unless they're lucky enough to find a better method but I do believe that firearms, hangings, and pesticide deaths are up there in the suicide statistics so most people do not have the option of something like sn, which as many know, is becoming harder to access anyways.

And like I said, if we applied this logic in other places, it would be ridiculous. I mean should we advocate for banning driving since no safety measures can completely eradicate all drunk drivers? Should we outlaw cigarettes since a number of kids will find a way to buy them and get addicted? Should we ban sharp objects since some people will use them to kill others? We don't talk like this about other stuff as you know.

I understand that innocent deaths are a concern but when we look at the harm being caused by method prohibition and lack of reasonable assisted suicide laws, it seems really far fetched that it isn't worth it to at least begin developing systems. Legislation that cares to avoid utter horror of so many would look a lot different than what we have today in most places.

I agree that the right to die is completely overlooked. The idea that there will be "innocent casualties" just seems ridiculous as not only is suicide not a crime, but you would have to explicitly agree to die. The people who "survive" suicidal thoughts are victims of gaslighting from the pro-life system anyway. I wish for nothing more than to die a peaceful death, preferably with Nembutal, sadly I can't because other people have gone out of their way to restrict its sale. Eventually, I am sure I will have to settle for a brutal method and most likely fail several times before I succeed, the way suicidal people are treated is awful as well. I hope you find peace from your unfair illness.

A lot of people seem to talk about something along the lines of family members killing their disabled kids or elderly parents and doctors going along with it and that this is the reason why we just can not even think about euthanasia being legal. I think it is pretty far fetched that there is no system possibly conceivable that would address this concern in an efficient way.

And thank you, I hope you find peace as well and I'm sorry that you're suffering.

I view it as being extremely cruel how as humans there is a lack of acceptance towards what should be a basic human right.

It's ironic how we allow this basic right to our pets when they're suffering intolerably despite them not even being able to ask, as if we already know that sometimes death is better than such horrible pain, but we won't allow our family or friends the same right when they are consistently just begging to die.