Discussion Imagine a society where medically assisted suicide is as easy as getting treatment for an illness.

[Final_frontier]

If the only thing you have to do is go to a hospital and say, "I don't want to live anymore" and then they put you on all possible treatments and therapies for a year or two and then if it fails, you qualify for assisted suicide, the rationale being that you deserve the least painful most dignified exit instead of trying crude and painful methods with the possibility of failure and further suffering
Is something like this ever gonna happen in the future?

 

[BeansOfRequirement]

If the only thing you have to do is go to a hospital and say, "I don't want to live anymore" and then they put you on all possible treatments and therapies for a year or two and then if it fails, you qualify for assisted suicide, the rationale being that you deserve the least painful most dignified exit instead of trying crude and painful methods with the possibility of failure and further suffering
Is something like this ever gonna happen in the future?

If I'm elected, sure.

 

[booray]

Not in my lifetime, natural or otherwise.

 

[Grav]

I can't recall, maybe in the King in Yellow story, but there was "suicide booths" where you could just be walking down the street and decide "now's the time" and "poof" you'd be gone. Not much more on it just that they were around.

 

[ConstantineXI]

I can't recall, maybe in the King in Yellow story, but there was "suicide booths" where you could just be walking down the street and decide "now's the time" and "poof" you'd be gone. Not much more on it just that they were around.

It was in "The Repairer of Reputations" in the collection The King in Yellow.

I think I sort-of land in the middle group on this subject: I think I look at this from a harm reduction perspective. I do wish it was an available option (probably once you turn 18 [or something similar], though questions of waivers here get...decidedly messy), but I'd want there to be at least some requirements (e.g. you've gotta submit a will and make two requests with a certain amount of time in between...I'm loosely looking at the protocols in Europe for this in the context of terminal illnesses) and required counseling in the interim. Basically, it would be available and accessible...just not on a whim.

My suspicion is that this would eliminate quite a few impulsive suicides (not all, because reference the term "impulsive", but at least some which are motivated by not seeing any other option), at the cost of an increased number of well-conceived ones. I tend to think that the number overall might drop: The number of folks who apply for a terminal prescription but then don't use it is substantial, and I suspect that there are a number of people for whom knowing an acceptable exit is there would actually be enough to ensure that they can work through the underlying issues rather than having to cover it up because of the risks of being involuntarily committed (I really think that should be reserved for folks who are a threat to persons other than themselves). Making it clear to folks that they don't have to "sneak out the back door when they have the chance" would reduce those done under unfavorable time pressures.

I'd argue that also important would be a reduction in the number of failed suicide attempts or folks stuck choosing (relatively) painful methods because that's what they can manage (I differentiate such decisions here from those who consciously choose a method with a higher level of pain out of some element of personal preference), or attempting "suicide by others", such as "suicide by cop" but also including some other categories of this (my sibling's SO tried this last summer...unfortunately, they tried to use my sibling as their "other" of choice; no shots were fired, but the resulting legal mess took all summer to sort out).

 

[KuriGohan&Kamehameha]

I can't recall, maybe in the King in Yellow story, but there was "suicide booths" where you could just be walking down the street and decide "now's the time" and "poof" you'd be gone. Not much more on it just that they were around.

They had this in Futurama as well in the first episode

 

[ConstantineXI]

They had this in Futurama as well in the first episode

Yeah, and I still recall Fry asking if he could make a collect call and the booth mistaking it for "slow and painful" ;-)

 

[AE2021]

Probably will not happen in our lifetime, but it is a good idea. Allowing humane options to those of us who are sure about what we want to do is exactly what is needed. It isn't anyone's business if I want to end it.

 

[Georgiana Darcy]

It would be a much kinder and better world. Which also means, it would be a world with less people WANTING to commit suicide.