The Starbucks of Suicide
"We never say no," writes Wesley Smith, arguing that the Swiss organization Dignitas - which is planning to create a network of organizations to provide assisted suicide - is the template for the right to die movement. The problem is that Dignitas is a nutcase outfit; Smith quotes its founder from an interview in the Times London:Minelli believes that all suicidal people should be given information about the best way to kill themselves, and, according to the Times story, "if they choose to die, they should be helped to do it properly." Dignitas admits to having assisted the suicides of many people who were not terminally ill. As Minelli succinctly put it, "We never say no."Does that sound like Timothy Quill to you? No? Me either. But this is the nature of the argument against the right of the terminally ill to end their lives: the fallacy of the domino theory.
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I on't depend on the slippery slope argument. The basis of the slippery slope argument is "OK, killing X people might be OK except that it will lead to killing Y people" I think X people shouldn't be killed regardless of whether it will lead to killing Y people. For example, they shouldn't have removed Terri Schiavo's feeding tube, in my opinion. Being disabled, even as severely disabled as she was, does not make it OK for people to kill you. Regarding her alleged statement that she wouldn't want to live like that - most normal people have no clue what it's like to be disabled, just tragedy stereotypes. I don't think you can truly make an informed decision about that before it happens. My disability is congenital (a form of autism), but I know people who have acquired disabilities, such as quadriplegics, who say that before they became disabled they thought it would be horrible to be disabled. When they were first disabled they had trouble coping with it. And then they let go of their stereotypes and realized it's not that bad, really. A good example of this sort of thing is the book Slow Dance, by a woman who had two strokes due to vascular anomaly in her brain. It had no effect and then suddenly it bled, and several months later it bled again. She's now in a wheelchair and her viewpoint on disability has changed a lot. Also, if you go to http://www.mouthmag.com/issues/58/contam_smile.htm you can read about a former hospice worker who had a very prejudiced view of disabled people until she became quadriplegic.
Also, I've been seriously depressed, and I know that suicidal people need to know that people care. Saying "Oh, here, I'll help you kill yourself" just makes it worse. And there are other solutions than killing yourself. I wanted to die because bullying made me feel like a piece of garbage, homeschooling me worked far better. For many disabled people, especially if the disability is acquired, suicidality can be dealt with by learning that they can live a good life while disabled. They don't have to either recover or be miserable. Firstly, so much of the unhappiness blamed on disabilities comes from attitudes - the disabled person's and others. If you think it's incredibly demeaning to wear diapers, or if others treat you badly for wearing diapers, you'll have more trouble than someone who views wearing diapers as no big deal. Secondly, sometimes problems arising directly from the disability are viewed as only solvable by death, but they can be solved without killing the person. For example, Tracy Latimer, a severely disabled girl with cerebral palsy and developmental delays, was in pain for several years before her father "mercifully" killed her. Her pain was because a spastic muscle in her leg over time pulled her hip out of joint, and having a dislocated hip isn't very fun. But that can be treated by surgery to cut the muscle pulling the hip joint. The muscle is important for walking but Tracy didn't walk, so she didn't need that muscle. The only drawbacks would be those present for any surgery, such as the slight danger of complications from anesthetic or infection because you had part of you cut open, as well as the pain during recovery. But you heal from surgery, then it stops hurting, whereas this hip problem would only stop hurting if it was fixed. Despite that, Robert, her father, refused the surgery and killed her instead.
- by Ettina on May 1, 2006 at 12:41 AM | link
don't, not on't
- by Ettina on May 1, 2006 at 12:42 AM | link
You call them nuts, but they represent a broad vein of euthanasia belief, which was what I stated. And I also state that some euthanasia advocates may actually believe that it would be restricted to the terminally ill.
I didn't have space in the piece, but Lord Joel Joffe, author of the pending UK proposals has stated publicly he wants a broader license than the terminally ill. Is he a nut, too? How about Derek Humphry? Quill is not your typical euthanasia advocate.
Read the piece for yourselves, folks. Thanks for linking it. WJS
- by Wesley J. Smith on May 1, 2006 at 1:55 AM | link
Quill's a lot more careful these days, but he used to be more expansive in describing who "might" be appropriate for getting help in committing suicide. The term he used (but avoids now) was "hopelessly ill" which is a nicely ambiguous term that certainly encompasses anyone with a severe disability. Maybe Quill changes his mind about being that expansive or maybe he just decided it was safer to stick with the narrower focus - for now.
- by Stephen Drake on May 2, 2006 at 2:40 PM | link
The "rational suicide" crowd, those in the mental health professions who believe that a psychiatrist/psychologist/social worker's job may be to "permit" suicide if it is deemed "rational" based on "hopeless condition," certainly do not restrict that term to the dying. The exact definition can be found in my article that is linked in the main blog entry.
Which also points out another point: My article is not just about the "nuts" at Dignitas, but covers a broad swath of assisted suicide and just plain suicide advocacy.
- by Wesley J. Smith on May 2, 2006 at 3:48 PM | link
I thing assisted suicide is a good thing, the only thing worse than being suicidial is being such a failure that you can't even commit your suicide.
- by Wendy on Sep 10, 2006 at 2:40 PM | link
Perfect read!!
Steven Burda
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steven.burda.mba @gmail.com
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Temple University, BBA, 2003
St. Joseph's University, MBA, 2006
Villanova University, Post-MBA, 2007
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Philadelphia, PA
www.linkedin.com/in/burda
- by Steven Burda, MBA on Oct 29, 2006 at 3:18 PM | link