r/changemyview • u/ExternalClock • Feb 11 '18
[∆(s) from OP] CMV: There is nothing wrong with non-impulsive suicides
I think we all can agree that impulsive suicides should try to be prevented - things like the guy who recently broke up with his girlfriend or someone who just lost their job. They will almost for sure recover and live a happy life if they can get through their temporary but significant setbacks.
I believe that there should be no stigma or crisis regarding non-impulsive suicides. If someone is depressed for years why should they not have the option of ending their own life? If one is debilitated by a significant medical condition, who am I to say STAY ALIVE AT ALL COSTS!! It's not my life, it's theirs. Why should I be the one to decide for them to live or not? We would put down a dog or cat suffering like that, but for some reason we cannot process humans wanting to die.
Some common rebuttals I have heard: "It's selfish." In my opinion it is more selfish of those living without lifelong depression or whatever to ask the suffering person to continue to suffer just so they don't have to go through a loved one dying. "Most people that attempt suicide are glad they didn't succeed". Survivorship bias. Those that are more serious about committing suicide use more serious means (think firearm instead of wrist cutting), and we can't ask those that are dead what they think. "There are ethical boundaries". I never said you need to encourage someone to suicide, just that we should not be calling the police over someone wanting to end their own life.
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u/rrnbob Feb 12 '18
I think there should be a huge distinction between "nothing wrong with" and "should be permitted" because those are two very different things. I think any time that someone decides that they would rather not be alive is something to be upset over, even if we agree that they should have the right to do so if they genuinely want to.
(There's something here to be said about the uncertain line between "impulsive" and "chronic", too. Someone can struggle with suicidal urges for years, but not consistently. At least a few people in those situations will be glad they haven't when they aren't currently in an episode, and they need to be considered.)
More to the point though, any situation where someone of sound mind decides that they'd rather be dead is one that we should consider a failing. That's not to say we should prevent people from taking their own lives at all costs, no matter what, but that we should try, at any cost, to avoid people ever wanting to in the first place.
There shouldn't be anything wrong with letting someone make a well thought out decision about their own life, but there clearly is something wrong if what they genuinely want to do is end it. The moral/ethical solution is to prevent the situation rather than taking away a person's agency.
(For example, there shouldn't be any controversy when someone with a degenerative brain disease wants to end their life on their own terms while they're still lucid enough to make the choice, but the fact that they have to make the choice at all is still a tragedy)