Does a right to live imply a right to die?

I believe you should have the right to die, provided you are in your right mind or have clearly stated your wishes at a time you were seen to be rational (living will).

Using the word “right” isn’t really appropriate for either state. You didn’t choose to live. It was given to you. So, too, should be death… by virtue of nature.

@Apparently_Im_The_Grumpy_One I am sorry, I understand the first part but not the last. Are you saying you should or should not be able to choose the time and place of your death?

I’m saying that you should take the same boat that brought you. Nature. It seems irrational or unrational to throw away such a gift. Life is the greatest gift human beings have. My opinion will never be on the side of throwing that gift away.

^^Thanks, that is what I thought but wanted to be sure.^^

Semantics! The “right” granted by whom or what? It’s clear that most of us certainly have the choice on checkout time. To me it seems pointless to judge the ethics or morality of those who choose to checkout early. I do prefer however to live in a society that values the lives of its citizens regardless of whether or not certain of them decide to no longer value their own. It is the obligation of us collectively to talk those folks off the ledge.

Your mind, your body and your life is your own.
You can modify, change, enhance, damage, defile, and yes, end them, as you please.

We do not choose our life, but we can choose our death, absolutely.
I believe everyone has the right to check out when they so desire, regardless of reason.
This is not to say that many reasons cannot or should not be mitigated. Wanting to die at 19 because your boyfriend/girlfriend broke up with you is irrational.

Wanting to die as an older person who has lived their life and is facing ill health, poverty, or other situations that greatly diminish quality of life is not wrong or irrational, it is reality based.
I do not agree that humans should suffer endlessly just to appease religious beliefs or others that cannot handle their choice to check out prior to the bitter end.
Yep, my body, my choice.

As George Eastman said in his suicide note at age 78, “My work is done, why wait?”
Yes, I support right to die.

Why not? It works for me!

@rojo, you say you “wanted to be sure.” Sure of what? Sure that it’s not a right to take one’s own life (how can one ever know that?) ... or simply sure that others agree with you that it’s not a right? Speaking for myself, as I grow older, the more I fear painful and terminal illness, but even when I was younger I believed that the right to die should be based on one’s individual circumstances, not someone esle’s opinion. I totally agree with @Coloma and @ibstubro on this.

You or your “attorney-in-fact” (spouse or designated other) have the right to refuse medical treatment or leave the hospital against the medical authority. I gave my wife the authority to sign legal documents to stop life support to me in certain conditions (no brain activity, terminal conditions, severe dementia when I can no longer feed myself, etc). In such conditions all fluid, IV’s, food, ventilation therapies are to stop.

@Pachy I wanted to be sure I understood what @Apparently_Im_The_Grumpy_One was saying.
I read it as “You didn’t choose to live. It was given to you. So, too, should be death [be given to you]….” and I wanted to be certain I was interpreting it correctly. That’s all, no deeper, hidden meanings.

If a person has the right to life then they likewise have to end that life in a time and manner of their own choosing for whatever reasons they choose.

@Darth Algar but what about the obligation of the individual to the society?

@Apparently_Im_The_Grumpy_One Perhaps some people want to choose when they die because they do not want to be alive in the first place.
Babys do not get the choice on being born. Parents either have an abortion or the kid lives. I belive that if leading your life is hard and the reason is obvious you should have the right to kill yourself.

@PuffUvSmoke

The “ability” to end your own life will always be there. It’s impossible to take that from someone. So if you want to call that a “right” – than so be it.

However, I will never personally condone or align with someone who believes that life should be thrown away by choice. What you’re talking about sounds like the euthanization of human beings. That’s despicable. It’s Kevorkian…

@Apparently_Im_The_Grumpy_One Do you support the right to die under deplorable medical circumstances to preserve the persons dignity and save them hideous suffering? Kevorkian was only assisting those that wanted to die, he was not making that decision for others. I think he was a pioneering hero.
Why do you think it is more noble to die naturally in horrible pain and suffering than to ease out gently before the ultimate ravages of a horrible disease take you?

@Coloma
“60% of the patients who committed suicide with Kevorkian’s help were not terminally ill, and at least 13 had not complained of pain”

I’d be wary of siding with such an animal… who was, incidentally, convicted of second degree murder and imprisoned.

I won’t pretend to know what I’d think if my wife or my kids were in some type of terminal pain. It makes me sick to think about it. It feels like a “The Road” type situation. Or if you’ve seen “the mist” .. I wouldn’t be the one blowing everyone’s brains out. Fight to the death.

Either way, the question posed mentioned starving yourself to death…. that sounds nothing like “taking the easy way out”.

@stanleybmanly

What obligation does the individual have to society in this regard?

@Apparently_Im_The_Grumpy_One

Kevorkian’s murder conviction is immaterial if one holds the views he advocated. He was convicted of murder because of one case where he administered the drugs because the patient, a man in the advanced stages of Lou Gherig’s Disease, was unable to self-administer them.

Thus completely blowing over the fact that 60% weren’t even terminally ill?

@Apparently_Im_The_Grumpy_One Being alive, period, is a terminal condition. Life causes death.
The right to die in Oregon allows family members to administer the lethal drugs to their loved ones. I agree with that 100%.

@Apparently_Im_The_Grumpy_One

See my previous response to the question.

(Even assuming that the claim is true, which, as I understand, is a matter of dispute.)

My life.
My body.
My choice.
No regrets.
Tsk. Where have I heard these statements before?
Pretty interesting when they are applied by individuals where the gender of the decision-maker isn’t attacked.

The thing with Kevorkian is that even the 60% who were not terminal still came to him for assistance; he did not go looking for them.