Choosing to die

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xnu340_terry-pratchett-choosing-to-die_shortfilms#.UUN8fxwvmuK

One of the best, and most thought provoking documentaries I've ever watched. Was just curious as to what people's opinions are on this.

Should we have the right to die if we so choose?

My take on the matter is I think under certain circumstances where each day is a struggle, through debilitating conditions and you feel like each day is a struggle, and your condition affects those around you, then I think, provided it is proved that you are mentally well enough to choose so, that you should have the right to die. People shouldn't be forced to drag out their lives in pain or fear, looking forward to the day they pass. However equally I think that the system could be exploited or misused, and people who don't really want to die may choose to do so for several reasons, the main one being an initial poor reaction to their condition.

E.g.Through accident or by other means, someone may become disabled from the waist down, and may initially react badly to this. The news that they may never walk again would send many people into depression, which like most illnesses can be treated. In their state of depression, should they choose to die, they may not actually be making the decision they really want to, when in a few months time after treatment they may make the opposite choice. If someone who didn't truly want to die, but chose to do so in depression died, it would be a tragic and unnecessary loss of human life.

Just wanted to know other people's opinions on this?

 

Surely we have the right to choose to die. It is our life, we can do anything with it. It is a matter of choice, whether you choose to allow yourself to die or you choose not to. Personally, i wouldn't want to die anytime soon.

 

I am a firm believer that we should have total control over our bodies, including the ability to take it away. I may not agree with their reasoning all the time but I will fight to let them do it as long as it doesn't endanger other's lives.

 

The documentary is more about euthanasia, and that's also what I was referencing. It was more a case of should it be legal, or can you see why it isn't? In the UK there was an interesting case over the last year or so where someone who decided to go to Switzerland, where euthanasia is legal, was euthanised, but their spouse was charged with manslaughter. never sure what the outcome was.

 

You have the right to die. You do not have the right to be euthanised.

There is no need for such radical legislation to be put in place for the almost minuscule populace that it would effect. The problem is not so much the legislation itself but rather the profound consequences it would have on the medical community and humanity as a whole.

 

We all should live and not die.

 

We have the right to take out own lives if we please it is suicide. I don't agree with it and would never do it but everyone does have their own right to take their own life.

 

I was with one of my closest friends in his last week of life.
We would have the same routine everyday, in the mornings we would go to the YMCA and stay in the sauna and talk about what's going on in our lives.
About 1PM he would start drinking, I drank with him.. this would go on throughout the day, just doing stupid stuff. Playing ps3, he would be botting on runescape and he was on Tinychat everyday, almost all day and night.

We would wake up the next morning and repeat the cycle until he finally said he was going to get his life on track, quit drinking and focus on his career.
I hadn't seen him in a long time, he changed a lot.. he was in the Army and this is all after he went away for about 1 year for basic training and AIT.
later that day around 2Pm, a few of his friends came over wanting to have a small party later that night, I could tell he didn't want to, he reluctantly said yes. After they left, I talked to him and said he didn't have to drink. He assured me he would only have a couple beers. About 15 people came to the party, more than he wanted.

After the party was over and everybody left, I was already buzzed and he said fuck it let's get drunk, so we did.. He went upstairs, I stayed downstairs playing deadspace and after a while, I wanted to check on him, he was already upset from some news he heard earlier that day. One of his friends from basic training was killed by an IED (improvised explosive device) shortly after he was deployed. Before I had the chance, he walked downstairs covered in blood, deep cuts on his chest and arms. He wanted me to help him find his phone to call his ex-gf, with whom he has a beautiful baby boy with.
I didn't know what to say.. I followed him as he looked for his phone, trying to talk him out of it, keep in mind he was very drunk. I could see the pain in his eyes, like everyday was a chore, just going through life without living. I eventually convinced him he should go to sleep.

The next morning, he cleaned himself up and hid his wounds like it didn't happen. Shortly after waking up, there was a knock at the door, I was upstairs at the time. When I came down I saw my friend talking to the police, apparently while he was upstairs the night before, he was on tinychat. A few of the people in tinychat were concerned and called the police. After he told them he was fine and nothing happened, the police looked at me. I agreed with what my friend had said, and assured them everything was fine.

I went home later that day, grabbed my weed and went back to his house.
I figured weed would be better than drinking again, after what I saw.
We chilled all day, having a good time, talking and laughing. At that point I thought he would be fine and went home later that day.

A couple days later, I got a phone call from my ex-gf saying she saw people posting RIP on his facebook page, I couldn't believe it, I didn't want to believe it. After getting phone calls from other people, it started to sink in. I had a missed call from my friend that committed suicide from the day before and my voicemail was full, so I never heard a good bye, or farewell from my dear friend.

So is it selfish for us to stop somebody from taking their own life when they are in pain everyday of their life? Is it selfish of them to hurt the people around them, who love and care about them?

As much as it hurts me and I wish he were still alive, I believe it was his choice to end his life.

This is one of his entries from a blog he made.


Emptiness is defined by individualism. There is no such thing as perfection. No such thing as normalcy. There is no such thing as happiness. Because through it all, we all face pain. There is no reward in this life for doing what is right. We are faced with challenges everyday. To face what this world has to offer is the true test. Take it as you must, but remember this. There is no reward. What kind of person are you?

 

Don't take life to serious, nobody gets out alive!
Great video, of course we have the right. We are our own person do as we choose.

 

Life is shit, let's face it, for every good outcome you haft to go through HELL in some type of way to get it, it's just life, I think because of the chances that they're was for us to get here we should just live it to the best we can

- Life is what you make it.

 

you can't concsiously chose to kill yourself, there are chemicals in your brain which won't allow you to kill yourself because every animals primal instinct ( which humans are animals) is to survive, so if you are able to commit suicide you aren't fully conscious

 

So samurai warriors who chose to kill themselves when defeated werent conscious? When one has their honor destroyed, in some cultures it is believed that that person must then die by their own hand. What about suicide bombers? and the kamikaze squads?

Theres many reasons for one to give their own lives.

1. Their honor has been stripped.
2. Their religion requires it. (or so they believe. Mainly just fanatics I guess)
3. They chose to sacrifice themselves for their country.
4. They just don't want to live.

I personally know a person who killed himself a few years ago because he just didn't want to live in the world. He said everything about it was horrible. The politics the big corps and everyone was just out to make a buck and no one cared about honor, freedom or even cared for one another anymore and it just wasnt the type of world he wanted to live in. So he killed himself.

I find it 100% fine for someone to kill themself if they dont want to live. I was sad to lose a friend, but why would I wish upon him a fate that caused him pain?

 

We should certainly have the right to die if we so choose. Often times the opposition to this idea is that people do not have the right to because of outstanding factors.. I believe that we are the intimate owners of our body and flesh and that no one or ideal outside of our own consciousness has the right to determine the fate that befalls our body.

 

I find people who throw themselves under trains are selfish and idiots, harming the lives of people on the trains or jumping over a bridge you could kill someone.

 

I know my gf told me a few days ago she's felt like if she did kill herself she would be free and not have to worry about all the bullshit in life.

 

If ones life is full of torture and pain then i believe they should be able to end it, taking away ones ability to be free of pain is the same as inflicting that pain onto them in my eyes. I'd also like to say that that documentary made me very sad

 

Does choice make right, even though it's a mindless/bad choice?

 

According to me, no one has the right over anything. For example, you don't know when you'll be delivering your baby, therefore you don't have the right to give birth to your child on this particular day. It might happen tomorrow, or after a week. Therefore, when it comes to death, you can choose to die ( in a suicidal way ) but when it's about a natural death, you can't choose. Only death can choose for you, and all you can do is accept it.

 

I think you've misunderstood the actual question... It's not about who chooses who, more about the reason/right behind the choice of death (suicide).