Why Can’t You Kill Yourself?
Why Can’t You Kill Yourself?
By Elizabeth Young
The recent passing of Dr. Jack Kevorkian, and the arrest of the 91-year old woman making a “killing” selling $60 suicide kits, has forced society to look at why we are not allowed the right to die with dignity. [1]
Sharlotte Hydorn’s kit, packed into a white box adorned with a butterfly, contained a plastic bag, a tube, and a book titled Final Exit. Customers rent a helium tank, place their head in the plastic bag and run a hose from the bag to the tank, and within a few minutes another life is ended peacefully.
Hydorn had been selling about two or three kits a month until a 29 year-old used one to end his life because he couldn’t find a tall building to jump out of or figure out how to hang himself and kick the chair out from under him at the same time.
Nick Klonoski wasn’t terminally ill, but just depressed and wanted a peaceful end to his suffering.
Although a compassionate society would never withhold “the ultimate human right,” from a mentally competent, terminally ill person who chooses to avoid unnecessary suffering, letting someone end their life because they are depressed is another story.
Sales took off as a result of the media attention stemming from Nick’s brother Zack, who is angry that Hydorn made $60 off his brother’s death.
“In a society where so many people suffer from depression and other mental health disorders, this company has found their niche [niche is the right word, annual sales are now about $98,000] in the market by peddling death. This is analogous to putting a gun-vending machine next to a depression clinic. She made $60 off my brother’s death.”
Yes, he actually said this in front of the Oregon state legislature. [2]
The admonition against euthanasia can’t really be defended on any legal, moral, or ethical grounds.
If you don’t mind wearing a diaper, throwing up all over yourself, and suffering the pain and humiliation because you can no longer perform your Activities of Daily Living (ADLs), that is your choice, but no one, especially the pro-lifers (actually pro-fetusers), have the right or authority to make that decision for me. And I haven’t even discussed the suffering your loved ones will have to endure while you wait for God, or a doctor playing God, to decide when it’s time for you to go.
Click here to read a thorough debunking of all of the suicide/euthanasia slippery slope arguments (except one) put forward by the Care Not Killing Alliance.
Read the rest here: http://www.unfilteredhistory.com/blog/uncategorized/why-can%E2%80%99t-you-kill-yourself/
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