jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net wrote:
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> People can voluntarily take their own life for any fucking reason that suits them. If someone
> wants to off themselves for a hangnail, while I might find that a rather ignorant decision, if
> they're mentally capable of making that decision no one should be allowed to stop them. You
> can try to talk them out of it but you shouldn't be able to forceably stop them.
While I disagree with Marta on the Shaivo case, the question of suicide is a bit more complex. _Ultimately_, a person set on suicide should not be stopped from carrying out that wish. BUT, there is (I think) a good deal of evidence that a large proportion of those who attempt suicide and are stopped are happy, later on, that they were stopped. One woman in our depressive support group has a hilarious story. About 15 years ago she stepped in front of a large van, which turned the corner before reaching her. That was 15 years ago -- and she has never attempted suicide since then. Kevorkian was (arguably) over-ready to agree that his clients were indeed willing.
On the other hand, the last words I ever heard from my father were "I wish I were dead." Those were, as it turned out, the last words he ever spoke to anyone -- after several more strokes that week he sank into a vegetative state, and 'lived' for three more years. That's what my mother wanted, but I'm quite sure it wasn't what he would have wanted. There's something to be said for Carolyn Heilbrun's idea (expressed in _The Last Gift of Time: Life Beyond Sixty_ (1997) that one should leave while the party's still fun.
Carrol