Peter Singer and Redeeming Characteristics

[Gordon Fitch]

Rob Schaap wrote:
>  but the denial of release to any hopeless sufferer, who
> > herself sees that suffering as a decisively negative value, is, to my mind,
> > an unconscionable way of trying to avoid these dangers.

Marta Russell:
> The hopeless sufferers (as you call them) have been killing themselves
> for centuries without getting the medical profession involved. 
> ...

Yes, but from what I've read, they often mess up the job and
wind up alive and worse off than they were before-- it's
harder to kill yourself properly than you might think.  So the
question arises as to whether these people can have the freedom
to seek professional assistance and better technology to do
what they want to do, and if not, how taking their freedom
away can be justified.