Do you think it should be legal to commit suicide?

I have always though that was the most ridiculous law in the US. The fact that it is Illegal to kill yourself. Seriously, what are they gonna do, bring you back and send you to the chair, lol.

I believe if a person is in serious untreatable pain, or terminal they should be allowed to do what they have to in order to stop the misery. You can put an animal out if its misery via shotgun, but you can't give a terminal cancer patient an OD of morphine. Its horrible.

the only time legality comes into play with suicide is if it fails. if a person tries to kill themselves and fails, they can be forced to go to a counselor or rehab. they're not going to put the person in jail, because what good will that do them, and the only person they were harming was themselves. certainly there are some people who "attempt" suicide for attention, but they should be pitied, not scorned. and they would need counseling just as much as anyone else wanting to commit suicide.

no one has ever been thrown in jail for killing themselves, or trying to kill themselves, (as far as i know) the whole idea behind it is rediculous! but i think it is against the law merely for ethics, as you put it. by making it against the law, the government is simply stating that they do not approve of suicide. there are places in the world where suicide is not necessarily considered a bad thing.

as to the question of untreateable pain, i think it should be up to the person. i know of a woman who was on her deathbed, and she was attatched to a lifeline, and she had specifically said she didn't want to be a vegatable, but her children wanted to keep her. they were arguing about it. they were putting their own feelings above hers. the woman was even seen trying to take apart the hose that kept her alive. in cases like that, it should be up to their disgretion. this woman was completely sound of mind, and she wanted to die, the least they could have done was respecting her wishes in at least this one aspect.

no matter how you look at it, you can't generalize suicide.

If one wants to remove themselves from life can one really be deemed sane?? Often pain is so great one will do anything to make it stop (ie kill the pain). Pain drives people to a point of insanity. Insanity is really a loose term but it could be argued that pain would drive a person to the point of not being mentally sound to form a sound decision. It is kind of like heat of passion murders. It was not in cold blood and predisposed because they were not in their sound mind from the shock of something. Insanity should not be looked at as a negative term. A sounded rush of adrenaline and pulling someone from a train track could be considered insanity, but also a heroic act. It is the governements goal not to so much convict this person of a crime for wanting to kill themselves but to protect theirselves from well theirselves until they recieve help. Also i believe everyone should have the choice to live or die, but it goes back to if you are in the right mind at the time of your choice.

I agree with you. People in the situation you describe should have the inalienable right to instruct someone to "pull the plug". That someone cannot be a doctor because of their Hippocratic Oath, but the law should provide for someone else to be able to act on the person's behalf without legal repercussions.

If you commit Suicide...they will slap your butt in jail for 5 years...lol. Seriously, they can have laws against the assisting of suicides, and they should be enforced, but you don't need help to jump off a bridge, or shoot yourself...even poison is easy, all it takes is determination. Getting someone to "assist" you makes it too easy...and I guess the laws are made with the old stoic, "suffering is noble" attitude in mind.

You can commit suicide all you like. What are they going to do,, throw you in jail? Your dead! Just don't expect the insurance company to pay off. You must be talking about assisted suicide. There is a fine line between assisted suicide and murder. Do you want to have someones blood on your hands for the rest of your life?

There is nothing to stop anyone from killing themselves and its not like you can arrest them after the fact.

ASSISTED suicide is illegal for the DR to preform (or anyone else). I am thinking this is what you meant.

I dont think it should be illegal in cases of terminal illness or infirmity - for some reason its OK and considered "humane" to put your sick or dying pets down but poor Grmo has to get hooked up to every machine they have and loose all her dignity or waste away in a nursing home, that is cruel if you ask me!

I had so much horrible pain for many years i couldn't leave the house for months at a time.just lay in bed holding my head,I played Russian roulette a number of times, this is my Right.got hurt in an accident that killed my family,Its best not to tell others of your plans.They should test people, who want to kill themselves and if their healthy enough minded. then they should have that right.of course.or even if their a little bit crazy from the pain,then yes. if their dieing especially from a disease,then of course they should die if they wish to..

because suicide doesnt only affect the victim, but the familes who are forced into depression, and then you have the family suing the doctors, schools, or therapist who "should" have helped that person out of depression. you take your own life may seem like nothing, but a lot of trouble can stir

Around here if someone tries and fails they get a couple days in the hospital and are then released, and if they succeed... then they are beyond punishment.