Discussion How many people would die if there was painless assisted suicide in every country from 18?

[HopefulSleep]

I wondered why suicide itself is illegal and I came to the conclusion that a big part of it is that the government would make way less money if so many people would be dead.
So I wonder if assisted suicide with Nembutal or inert gas would be legal in every country from 18 how much people would you think would die?
I think there will be one of the highest counts of deaths if this would start in the first week for everyone who struggles to kill themself but wants to die and then it will be less but constantly high.

 

[LaVieEnRose]

Not the hordes of people that some people here believe would happen.Or those who oppose such policies for that matter either.

 

[HopefulSleep]

Not the hordes of people that some people here believe would happen.Or those who oppose such policies for that matter either.

Why do you think that?
I mean 3/4 of this sites users would be dead.
So many people want to die right now but don't know how to properly do it or have issues in planning.

 

[Forever Sleep]

I agree with you- that initially- there likely would be a surge of people who go. I think however- there will still be people who WANT to go but are hanging on for their loved ones. (Like me. )

You have to wonder though- if assisted suicide becomes legally acceptible for a wider amount of people- in your example- every adult- Will this (slowly) affect ideas towards suicide? Will it lose some of it's stigma? Will it now be possible to have open and honest conversations with our families? With anyone in fact about our reasons for wanting to go- and actually have them understood and sympathised with rather than- being shut down all together- 'You can't do this' (to me.) Belittled- 'This time will pass- things will get better.' Or- basically- 'You're out of your mind to think like this- We're going to stop you because you don't have the mental capacity to make the decision.'

I also agree with you that everyone over the age of 18 SHOULD have this right- WITH CERTAIN SAFEGUARDS. I think there obviously needs to be an assessment to assertain that the person does have capacity. However- I'd strongly argue that someone CAN have a so-called mental illness AND still have capacity. Shit loads of people have depression. This society respects their right to make other crucial decisions in life. Hell- some of them will be doing jobs where they are responsible for lots of other people's lives! They COULDN'T be doing them (safely) if they didn't have capacity- surely?

Obviously- some people won't have capacity but it will still be clear that their standard of living is terrible. In which case- doctors and families ought to be able to make the kindest decision for them.

I would strongly be in favour of a six month waiting period- in which the person is assessed and OFFERED help (not forced.) I think it's ok to SUGGEST that their thinking may have become skewed due to depression and OFFER ways to perhaps remedy it. Still- I think some of us acknowledge this already BUT DON'T WANT TO 'GET BETTER'. That ought to be our choice at the end of the day. Assisted suicide shouldn't be contingent on accepting 'help' and jumping through multiple rings of fire to fulfill THEIR ideas on when we are 'beyond help' IF WE HAVE CAPACITY!

A waiting period would hopefully ensure that people weren't making the choice impulsively. Also- ideally, I think it would be best if families were involved in the process- mainly so that it doesn't come as a terrible shock to them and they don't look to sue afterwards.

I TOTALLY agree with you. I think on a grand scale- governments don't want their wage slaves killing themselves. I suspect very soon- more will warm to the idea of providing assisted suicide to the elderly- we must be in an era where so many people are reaching very old age that it must be costing them a lot.

I used to wonder about people NOT earning/ paying in- people on benefits- surely cold hearted governments would like to get rid of them? Still- as other people have pointed out- we are all cogs in the machine. We are consumers. Some people provide services, others consume them- governments get their taxes.

I think there is an emotional element to it too. When suicide comes up in the news- it is almost always young people and angry parents- 'How could you have let this happen to my child- Who can we blame?' If you're older- chances are, your suicide will be ignored- unless you're a celebrity. Parents are voters! Governments want their votes- they probably don't think it would be a good strategy to start offering a service that kills their children. Again- especially because we are in such a pro life society.

On the economic side, @TAW122 always has excellent ideas on how things could be financially balanced in an era where assisted suicide was legal for mentally capable adults. For example- some of the jobs that might be lost to a lifetimes worth of therapy/ meds could go to the specialist teams that would need to assess people for assisted suicide and provide the actual service obviously.

Plus- with all this out in the open now. With less stigma- Will people feel more able to come forward and say they are struggling in life? More may want help earlier- and maybe it will help. Some people DO want to 'recover'- so- those support networks need to be staffed by PROFESSIONALS. Not people who simply try to guilt trip you out of it or give you a bunch of ridiculous platitudes.

Also, suicide IS legal in most of the world now- although I have to agree- it's still largely treated as an illegal act. Sadly, I doubt we'll get to see assisted suicide being brought in for mentally capable adults in our lifetime. I do predict we'll start to see it for the terminally/ chronically ill soon. Still- I don't think I want to wait for that! It's so perverse when you think about it- 'You hang on there until you are crippled up with untreatable, unrelenting pain- and then MAYBE we'll think about putting you out of your misery. If things stand as they are in the UK- that won't be the end of it either- you'll have the worry that- by the time you are 'eligible'- you may not be well enough to travel to a different country for the procedure. You'll need to be fairly well off- it costs a lot. Plus- if you want someone with you (and I think you do actually NEED someone with you officially- to identify you before and after), they COULD potentially be arrested for assisting a suicide! (I don't believe it's happened yet but the threat/ possibility is there.) Assisting a suicide IS still illegal here. Yeah- it's all messed up.

 

[FuneralCry]

So many people. I do think that many would likely continue to delay the inevitable for the sake of other people, but I know that loads would choose suicide if it was painless, guaranteed and one doesn't have to plan the method themselves with all the secrecy. Because the reality is that having the ability to exist here really is such a terrible thing that is completely futile.

Many humans will spend so much of their existence being wage slaves just to be tortured by old age. Life really is just useless and meaningless suffering with unlimited potential for existing to get much worse and unbearable, I could never understand why someone wouldn't choose this ideal suicide option apart from the reason I mentioned at the start of the post. We are all destined to die anyway so I would see it as being the most logical thing to wish to take control over my inevitable fate in a peaceful way to prevent a more horrible death from some other cause. And life really is nothing more than an unnecessary harm anyway, that to me is best avoided. To die solves all problems in which there was never a need for in the first place.

 

[freelifexit]

I wondered why suicide itself is illegal and I came to the conclusion that a big part of it is that the government would make way less money if so many people would be dead.

If it was true governments would allow euthanasia for terminally ill people because they don't work. I think the reason is because usually people in government don't care about people who suffer and also they scared to discuss right to die. I believe that in future more and more countries will allow euthanasia.

So I wonder if assisted suicide with Nembutal or inert gas would be legal in every country from 18 how much people would you think would die?

At least 20 millions per year. Because according to Wikipedia every year 1 million of people commit suicide and there are 20 times more attempts. But I think number will be bigger because there will be very easy way to commit suicide, maybe 40 millions per year.

 

[SilentSadness]

I would take it the moment I got the chance. Of course, it would never last in a society like this and I'm sure the suicide clinics would be destroyed within days. It seems like a distant fantasy to be able to die that peacefully. It doesn't fit at all in this world of suffering.

 

[SpiderLink]

I wondered why suicide itself is illegal and I came to the conclusion that a big part of it is that the government would make way less money if so many people would be dead.
So I wonder if assisted suicide with Nembutal or inert gas would be legal in every country from 18 how much people would you think would die?
I think there will be one of the highest counts of deaths if this would start in the first week for everyone who struggles to kill themself but wants to die and then it will be less but constantly high.

Most likely many would die

 

[Dans117]

Hi everyone. I know it's been a while, but I was feeling very depressed when I signed up for this forum, and I needed some time away to try and improve things. My depression is slightly better after a med change by my pdoc, but of course my situation has not particularly improved and I actually weigh more than I ever have in my life. Also, I am not talking to my codependent mom anymore, which has actually been good for my mental health, but also very isolating because she was the only person that I talked to every day. So, I'm back. Here are my two cents on this.

Imagine a scenario where governments across the world, backed by the UN, decided to solve the overpopulation problem once and for all by making a "suicide sleeping pill" legal for just one week. No strings attached, no rules or regulations (except for maybe limiting it to people 18+), no extra requirements...you just go online, order a package, take a pill before you go to sleep and then bam! You're dead by morning. How many people do you think would die in that one week? My guess is millions, if not billions. The idea that "life is beautiful, you have so much to live for" that pro-lifers spout endlessly would be destroyed effortlessly. People all over the world would find their spouses, their adult kids, their siblings, their roommates, and their lovers dead in their beds. The survivors would be FUBAR. Widows and orphans would overwhelm social services. Single lower-class men, who account for most manual labor and also the bulk of suicides, would die en masse. The already struggling labor market would completely collapse. Entire economies would be destroyed. The media would have no choice but to cover the carnage - it would make 9/11 and Pearl Harbor look tame in comparison. The planet would take years, if not decades to recover - if it ever would.

Am I overstating how popular such a pill would be? Maybe. Am I engaging in a slippery slope fallacy? Probably. Maybe people enjoy life more than I think they do. I am personally somewhat of a Buddhist myself, in the sense that I believe we keep reincarnating over and over until we finally decide that we've "had enough" and we have no desire to experience the pleasures of life anymore. That's Nirvana IMO, and contrary to popular belief, it's not a pleasant state - it's just a state where you have no desires left.

But I seriously do believe that the reason suicide isn't more common is not that life is fun, meaningful, or pleasurable, but because it is so damn difficult for anyone who doesn't have access to a quick, painless method. It's one of the reasons gun deaths are so widespread here in America: most of those gun deaths are suicides. After all, if you live in the boonies, have a gun, and aren't particularly interested in getting wasted, church, or nature, it's a pretty easy way out of the misery.

So, yeah - I think assisted suicide is illegal because TPTB know damn well it would be way too popular. Anyway, it's good to be back.

 

[unnormal9]

If you think even in droves the lot, ok.
Just because something's available doesn't mean everyone will jump to it. Can see that even with Inert Gas and SN.

 

[Gonnerr]

Hard to say , SI and fear of death and the unknown after death, at least 1/3 of people who have green light with dignitas doesn't go through with it. I think there would be less dead than covid.

It wouldn't be in the billions like many people thinks. Maybe a few millions, the earth and society wouldn't feel it.

If it was true governments would allow euthanasia for terminally ill people because they don't work. I think the reason is because usually people in government don't care about people who suffer and also they scared to discuss right to die. I believe that in future more and more countries will allow euthanasia.

At least 20 millions per year. Because according to Wikipedia every year 1 million of people commit suicide and there are 20 times more attempts. But I think number will be bigger because there will be very easy way to commit suicide, maybe 40 millions per year.

That's what i think, the worlwide population would still grow , so that's why they have to allow it. We have the right to die.

 

[glitterypearls]

people are scared to die even when they want to die. ever seen someone who is very very very religious who knows they will go to heaven and who can't wait for it? (this is their believes not mine) those religious people are still afraid to die. everyone SI kicks in unless you are really really desperate and just want all of this to be over.

 

[thgilrats]

Not that many, I am pretty sure. If not almost zero. There would obviously be some sort of "filter" with psychologists and psychiatrists who will do everything to stop the individual. They would've had every opportunity to restrict someone from having the procedure and they would've put serious restrictions on the suicidal people who would still try to kill themselves but without the procedure. Just like the real world.

 

[MeltingBrain]

So I wonder if assisted suicide with Nembutal or inert gas would be legal in every country from 18 how much people would you think would die?

Even if assisted becomes legal the restrictions are very tight .
I wonder if there were no restrictions, how many people would CTB ?
I would guess it will make it in top 10 .

 

[ConstantPain]

Either way, it's a nice thing to imagine. I think it's probable that a lot of people would take advantage of it. There are just so many reasons to! It seems like quite a few drug overdose and accidental deaths may technically be suicides so I think percentages of those would be included.