Missing the Bigger Picture on Suicide
I am completely cool with health care workers being warned to be on the lookout for suicide ideation among their cancer patients. When I was a hospice volunteer, I was trained similarly. I was told in no uncertain terms that if a patient threatened or even mentioned suicide, I was to tell the multidisciplinary team so that they could intervene and address the problem.
But there is something missing in this story that describes the problem of suicide ideation among cancer patients. I believe that one of the reasons people with cancer and other serious illnesses and disabilities may look to suicide as a way out is the permeation of assisted suicide advocacy. The fundamental message of "death with dignity" is that suicide/mercy killing is an acceptable answer to the problems of human suffering. The implied subtext is that a natural death is undignified. If we want to protect cancer patients--and others--from suicide, we must guard against the mixed message that currently permeates society; suicide prevention for some, but facilitation for others.
posted by Wesley J. Smith @ 8:19 AM
7 Comments
7 Comments:
We don't think, we "feel."
Remember Jim Jones, of which we get the expression "drink the kool-aid"?
The problem of human suffering is no longer addressed by attempts to end the suffering as by attempts to end the human.
If there is a right to die like the right to abortion, I would fear for upset teenage daughters whose boyfriend dumps them.
But if the answer to human suffering is to end the humans, we shouldn't be sending condoms to africa, we should be sending jim-jones kool-aid, which will end the suffering permanently.
Thomas: Thanks for your input. One prominent euthanasia advocate actually wants suicide pills to be made available to "troubled teens."
Having gone through many depressed periods in my life, I know that when I say 'my life is nothing but pain, I want to end it all', what I'm looking to hear is "No, don't do that, I love you," not "Here's a pill, good-bye."
Assisted suicide is the ultimate, most cruel rejection of people in pain.
Nissa: Thanks so much for writing. You are spot on!
I wonder what the world would look like if suicide pills were available to any adult.
Silent_Enigma: Thanks for dropping by. There has actually been a bit of advocacy for that, for example, by Phillip Nitschke.
In my more pessimistic moments, I think the world is heading toward what I call Blade Runner World, radical libertarian, indifferent to the weak and vulnerable, with the few very rich living behind gated and guarded communities.
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