Suicide vs Suffering

If your life from this point onwards was nothing but pure torture, would you rather kill yourself?

I mean, not a moments break at all, nothing but pure misery from now until you die.


I ask this because I wonder why people who are plagued with incurable illness/disease are looked down upon for almost wanting that release of death. Or people who suffer every day of their life due to other things like family or people.

I wish to know your thoughts, on which side you would take and why.

 

I would suffer. Some of us suffer everyday of our lives, some of us fight till the end of our lives. People fight their mental illnesses day by day, and they suffer. I never want to give up on my life if I can help it. I will always try to find hope no matter what my brain might say or believe. I will fight and suffer.

 

If someone I knew was about to kill themselves I would try to bring them comfort and see if there was anything that could be done to improve their situation well enough to prevent the need to kill themselves. However if it is a prolonged suffering, escapable or not, I would understand it if they chose to end it on their own terms so long as they have given it enough thought. How much is enough varies on person to person but I like to hope at least a considerable time has passed.

When in terms of having a disease they will die from anyway or just makes living that hard then I see no problem in why they should not be allowed to stop their pain. Even alzheimer's is something someone should be allowed to end themselves, as to have a case in which you can barley remember your loved ones or who you were or anything like that...well, I'd rather be dead.

 

But for what purpose, why suffer for nothing?

That seems like a living hell, I would probably want to be dead as well.

 

Life could be seen as suffering for nothing. By pessimists and the depressed it usually is. I've learnt that it doesn't matter if life is hard, it's all about living and fighting for every moment of it. I will choose to live because it is my life to learn from.

Neither decision is better in the end. You die anyway. But I treasure my brief time here whilst I can.

 

But what if it wasn't you, what if someone asked you and your opinion would decide what they go through.

 

It depends on the extent of the torture, just how hopeless things are. I am, by nature, an optimist; it is extremely difficult for me to believe that a situation has no hope, thus, it's very rare for me to give up. There is always a way out, a way to improve the situation, a hope for rescue, a hope for a cure, even in the case of terminal illness. We're all going to go down eventually. I'll go fighting. I believe when my time comes, I'll know it, and at that point I will be able to accept it. But I won't force it before I am sure, because it is a decision I can never go back from. There's so much out there worth staying for, so much to continue hoping for.

On the note of euthanasia, however, I do believe people have the right to end their life when they choose, if afflicted with a terminal illness. Doctor-assisted suicide was a rather hot topic a few years ago, less now, but I think it's relevant to the question here. It's similar to my stance on abortion; I think we have the right to it, but I doubt I would ever choose it personally.

 

I could never make that choice to take my own life, it's one of the few things that absolutely terrify me. Even if I was suffering I couldn't make that decision. I do believe, however, that those in major suffering, like you said from a terminal illness or such, should have that right. If I could, i'd rather see that person stay alive as long as possible, but if they were suffering badly enough I wouldn't blame them for doing it.

 

In honesty I would choose suicide because I wouldn't want my family and friend to suffer by watching me suffer.

 

They would suffer more if you committed suicide, though.

 

I disagree if they saw me suffer that memory would cause them to suffer all their lives but If I stopped them from seeing it they would suffer at first but would be able to move on eventually.

 

No one is ever able to move on from a loss of family. I don't think either way would end their suffering. I think they'd be happier to see you alive and get to spend what little time you may have left together, rather than you take your own life. True, it might make them suffer a bit from seeing your pain, but they'd suffer more from seeing you gone. That pain doesn't go away with time. They'd remember it for the rest of there lives. I know this seems contradicting to what i've said previously but I was talking about ending your own suffering, the suffering of friends and family wasn't part of that post.

 

There is something in my blood I can't escape and I've been thinking about this for years. My Dad's entire family have died from Cancer it is in my blood and I know I am very likely to get it too. So I have been thinking this through for the longest time and I decided Suicide is the best option for me.

 

And a long line of my family members have died from complications related to alcoholism and diabetes. Does that mean I'm going to resign myself to that fate? Not at all. Not only are these things preventable with lifestyle adjustments, but they are treatable. Medicine has advanced so much in the last few years, especially in regards to cancer, because it is (unfortunately) so prevalent.

If the disease is clearly terminal and you are in a great deal of pain, then as I said in my post, euthanasia should be a real option for you. But don't give up before exhausting every option. Furthermore, I don't have the stats on me but I have read reports that remaining positive in the face of serious illness can increase the patient's chances of survival.

Don't take the easy way out.

 

I'm not the type of guy who does take the easy way out but in this case I always thought it was the best option.

 

Well, to suffer you'd need to be conscious of your surroundings to some extent. So i'd suspect i'd ask their wishes and carry through?

Though if this was some how and hypothetically unconscious suffering and I could not ask their opinion, well I would hope to know said person enough to know what they'd want and follow through with their ideas. However i'd make sure they have to time to fight and survive, but realistically I wouldn't know what i'd do. I'm not a fan of keeping someone alive if nothing positive is happening but then again what choice do I have over their lives truly?

 

Think about this when some people are ill their bodies reject the medicine meaning they can't be cured and death is inevitable. In events like this it means they have no control over anything so they take control on the one thing they can, when they are going to die. I know I'd want to fight but not if my friends or family were there to see me do it. I'd want them to remember me as the guy I was before the illness not the guy the illness has made me. My family are the smothering kind so you get no peace if they can help it. That is why suicide was the best choice for me. Everyone is different and everyone has different circumstances and different people around them. So no two answers can ever truly be the same.

 

So let's take a mildly dramatic twist here.

Would you choose for me to continue my suffering, or die.