Peter Singer, "Extending the Right to Die"

[9BBN]

Princeton bioethics professor and moral philosopher Peter Singer wrote a piece on extending the right to die:

Extending the Right to Die

Peter Singer highlights the two main questions still surrounding physician-assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia.

www.project-syndicate.org

There can be little doubt that some mentally ill people are not helped by treatment, and do suffer greatly. It is hard to see why, if suffering from an incurable but non-terminal physical illness suffices for assistance in dying, suffering that is as bad or worse from incurable mental illness should not also be sufficient. Moreover, for people who are suffering from untreatable depression or other mental illnesses that do not respond to treatment, merely being judged eligible for euthanasia can in itself make life more bearable.

Also life update: I think having this pro-choice forum and a means to die is ironically keeping me alive. So what he's arguing isn't actually uncommon. He goes into statistics throughout the article.

What do you guys think? I think this is a beacon of hope, that one day we will have the right to die on our own terms. I wouldn't be surprised if extending the right to die is popular among the [non-religious] elderly right now. I generally get the sense that younger people are out of touch with life close to death and suffering. I mean there's a reason other countries allow voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide.

 

[The Mute Viking]

Thanks for sharing this komrade. <3

-Love you.

 

[FuneralCry]

I think having a right to die should be a basic human right, it isn't like we asked to be born. I am glad that there is starting to be more acceptance towards this in different countries, sometimes treatments do not work and there is nothing anyone can do. It would make life more bearable knowing there was a peaceful way out if things got too bad. Many people dread a future filled with suffering where it is hard to take their own lives.