Do you think suicide should be legal?

Question

I personally think if some wants to die then that's their business and he should be allowed to do so and not be looked at has someone who's crazy.

Answer 1

Absolutely not!!!! It is morally wrong and VERY selfish. I have no sympathy for thse who want to finish their lives just because life is sooooo hard. Give me a break. Even in medical times. I work at a hospital. If someone is dying and there is no hope...there are other options than suicide that are painless.

Answer 2

This question should depend on circumstances where with when a person is terminally ill and with no hope of recovery, consent must be applied with the authorities, hospital, next of kins etc. On the other hand, if a person views life meaningless, it doesn't mean that the only answer is to commit suicide, thats when counsellors come it. But the victim must be careful as there are various counsellors, some are geek counsellors, religious counsellors, weird ones, silly ones, swindlers etc.

The question on the legality of suicide must be addressed on the circumstances surrounding the situation. Generally it is made illegal as not all options are decided before any such suicidal action, therefor it is best if a shrink or pyschiatrist is appointed to the said person to direct the person to the correct approach of life. The question of legality of suicide is actually a deterrent in preventing people from making mistakes of ending a life when there are some other possible options that is not tried yet.

Answer 3

I have a problem with suicide being illegal. If you're considering suicide, you're pretty screwed up already. We make things illegal to deter people from doing them. Now if you're already screwed up enough to be considering suicide, I don't think there's much deterrence to be done... you're not going to stop and say well, gee, since it's illegal, I'm not going to do it. There's no deterrence because that person is already too screwed up to be deterred. Also, there's no deterrence because: if you do commit suicide, you're not going to get punished for it. If you're already dead, you can't get thrown in jail for the rest of your life and you can't have money or property taken away from you.

For suicide, you have 2 options: either you die or you don't. I've already discussed that there's no point in successful suicide being a crime, so lets go on to attempt.

So imagine that your life is just absolutely horrible and you decide to commit suicide. So you choose your method and you take pills, shoot yourself, drown yourself, whatever, and an instant before you're dead, someone comes in and finds you. You wake up in a hospital a week later. Now you're stuck with your horrible life, which is worse now because you're in pain from whatever you tried to do to yourself and because you now have exorbitant medical bills. And on top of it all, the state is charging you with a crime.

We already know that the deterrence factor for the crime of suicide isn't useful. And you can't punish people who actually committed suicide. The only people you're going to get are those who failed. And aren't those people's lives bad enough already? Do they really need the state proceedings against them? I just don't think having suicide be a crime.

It's pretty awful that you're such a failure that you even fail at suicide.

On a slightly more entertaining albeit still grim note, here's a true story...
A husband and wife were having an argument in a hotel room. The husband pulled out his gun and aimed it toward the wife, but the shot went out the window where it killed a young man who was falling after jumping off of that building. Apparently the husband had a habit of pulling out the gun and aiming at the wife but he kept it unloaded so if he pulled the trigger other times nothing ever happened. The couple's son was sick of the situation and tried to convince his mother to leave the husband. However, the wife stayed. So the son was then angry at both the mom and dad, so he decided to secretly load the gun so that the next argument they had, the husband would kill the wife... then the mother would be dead and the father would go to jail and i guess the son would be happy. But the wife and husband stay together for weeks after that... they're getting along and they're perfectly happy. The son grows increasingly distressed that the mother is still with the husband and that they're so happy. It all became too much for him, so the son decided to jump off the building! Even though the son died by gunshot instead of hitting the ground, the police ruled it a suicide!

Answer 4

It doesnt really matter, if someone kills themself, there isnt any legal action that can be taken against them. Now, assisted suicide, I do think it should be legal, its the persons business, and if they are fully competent to make the decision, it should be theirs to make. Not everyone goes by religious standards, which is probably the main reason its illegal, even though they wouldnt say that. Its a sin to commit suicide, a sin and just plain wrong also to murder, but i dont think assisted suicide is murder, when the person comes to them for help because the have some debilitating uncureable disease, why make it illegal for them to die peacefully on their own terms, if they and the assister are at peace with the religious part of it, even though everyone else may not be.

Answer 5

Technically suicide is NOT illegal. ATTEMPTED suicide IS.

So if you attempt and succeed there's not a lot the law can do with/to you.

The main reason I think attempted suicide is illegal is that some people want to go out with a bang (no pun intended) and take others with them who do NOT want to die.

Not to mention all of the ones who attempt it and botch the job but just badly enough so they will need constant care for the rest of their lives (sever disability of one sort or another) which becomes a drain on the faily finances and in many cases if the family has no insurance or the insurance has a "we don't pay for self inflicted acts" clause it becomes a drain on the state or federal funds.

I would have no problem with legalizing suicide but there would be a permit process with a waiting period of 3-6 months at least where the person applying for a suicide permit MUST attend couseling sessions and therapy. IF they decide after that, they still want to do themselves in, they may purchase the permit for a fee covering the couseling they had and proceede to a suicide center where it will be done for them in their choice of guaranteed ways.

Answer 6

Why does it matter if it's legal or not? Once you are dead, you can't be prosecuted anyway?

Suicide is seen as a mental illness in our culture, partly because it goes against the survival instinct of all living beings. In US, it is seen as a selfish act as escape from his/her responsibility and leaving others (who are still alive) to assume the responsibility.

In some other cultures though, some see it as an ultimate selfless act. It is even seen as ones way of taking a personal responsibility of something gravely wrong that he or she did.

It all depends on your personal belief. Legal issue is least of the problem.

Personally though, I see this as very illogical choice. Either way, you are trying to escape from some form of problem that troubles you. But if killing yourself is the solution, then who's there to benefit from it? Certainly, not the person who died... Then, if you are not going to benefit from it, why solve the problem in the first place?

I see problems as issues that I haven't found the solution, yet. So far in my life, I haven't found any issue where resolution wasn't eventually possible.

Answer 7

What? It's illegal to kill one's self. Aaahhhhh.....What's the law say about punishment, what's the court gonna do, kill the person for committing the crime?

Did you really mean to ask "if Assisted Suicide should be legal?" then, the court has a living, breathing, punishable by law "scape goat" to deal with, and everybody gets to go to court.

Answer 8

personally when someone is wanting 2 commit suicide they are not in their right mind because hopelessness + helplessness + overwhelemed = Suicide. therefore suicide should not be legal beacuse they are not in a state of mind to make correct decisions.

Answer 9

i dont think it should be. no matter what you are going through, someone out there is going through something ten times harder! and they have to deal with it, why should some people be allowed to take the easy way out and just end their life while other people suffer. theyre not crazy, they just need to suck it up and get on with their lives and quit being so selfish.

Answer 10

If someone actually goes through with their suicide isnt it dumb to punish them because they had some problems? I think it's a way for insurance companies to be safe. If someone dies via suicide they dont have to pay out. If suicides were legal you'd see a ton of people killing themselves just so their families could get their insurance moneys.