If you are diagnosed with life threatening illness and don't seek treatment is that suicide?

Question

If you are diagnosed with life threatening illness and don't seek treatment is that considered suicide or death from natural causes?

Answer 1

No it is not suicide. You have the right to choose what you do in your life. If do not wish to choose treatment it is your business. Yes it be considered death from natural causes.

Answer 2

This isn't a simple question and the answer isn't simple either.

It depends on the illness. Some illnesses are more manageable than others. A person may feel it just makes more sense to let nature take its course. That would not be suicide in my opinion.

In fact, I don't think I would ever actually consider it suicide. I would encourage anyone who has a serious illness to seek treatment. But if I knew I had a terminal illness I would ask only that I be kept comfortable and that no special effort be made to keep me alive for an extended period.

I would not want to accelerate the process of dying.

Answer 3

Please call your psychiatrist. You probably need an adjustment in your meds. That's a much easier solution. If you don't have an actual suicide plan, then you don't really want to commit suicide. By thinking of how it could affect others is not an indication of an imminent suicide. I know it seems like a good solution for the pain that you are suffering, but the affect on your son would be devastating. At that age, he would feel as if it was his fault, and it would affect him his whole adult life. I don't think you want to leave that as your legacy. It's not that they "would adjust to your being gone". The anger in the way that you "left" is a terrible thing combined with the loss. If you truly care about your son and your husband, it's not the way to take care of things. Suicide is a very selfish act. There is always divorce or separation if that is a way for "your husband to not go through it again". If he is still with you, he is there because he loves you. So please get the help you need with a mental health professional. You were doing great and you can do great again. There are lots of new meds that can help in addition to talk therapy. Do not wait for any "episodes". Make that appointment NOW! You owe that to yourself and to your son, who doesn't really have a vote. He needs his mom, and he needs his mom to be healthy. Call your psychiatrist, and if you don't want to go back to him, then get a referral. Don't wait..do it today. T

Answer 4

This is a very interesting question.
I don't know the answer, but my opinion is, if the illness is life threatening and the person chooses to make their last days more pleasant, such as refusing chemotherapy, I wouldn't call that suicide. But...if its something the person could control, like maybe diabetes, and they choose not to...maybe that would be a kind of suicide, especially if the intention was to die.
Again, just my opinion.

Answer 5

Good question. I suppose it depends on the type of treatment. Like with chemotherapy, it is questionable whether or not it will help, and it also comes at a huge expense and can harm other aspects of your health. But with adrenoleukodystrophy, all you have to do is take Lorenzo's oil, and you can live a full and normal life. To not drink this oil would be like a normal person not eating. And I certainly think that not eating would be like committing suicide.

Answer 6

If you are standing on train tracks and a train is coming and you choose not to get off of the train tracks and save yourself, that is suicide. If you have an illness that is like a train coming down the track at you and you choose not to save yourself with medical treatment, that is suicide. If you have a laceration and it is bleeding profusely and you CAN but do NOT apply pressure to stop the bleeding (administer first aid) and you allow yourself to bleed to death, that is suicide.

Suicide is not just the invitation of death (when someone chooses to take his or her own life) but also when someone chooses not to get out of death's way.

Answer 7

Insurance-wise (as in health and life), it is probably dying of natural causes. There is nothing wrong with not seeking treatment. Everyone has to die sometime and you might as well just accept it.

Answer 8

Death from natural causes.

Answer 9

Tough question. I guess it will be considered natural causes. But it really depends on the circumstances, you cannot really take a situation like this out of its context and apply simple reasoning to it - it is a relative question, and the answer will depend on a lot of variables.

Answer 10

From a legal perspective it's not suicide. You're allowed to refuse treatment and simply die of your disease. Suicide only involves the active taking of one's own life.