[ExI] right to try bill

[William Flynn Wallace]

It's not as simple as that. Most people who try to suicide do it as a
result of a situational crisis or a depressive illness, which we know will
pass even with no intervention beyond keeping them from killing themselves
during the worst moments. Should we instead help all these people to die?-
Stathis Papaioannou

When you bring in mental disorders, acute or chronic, it gets complicated.
As a psychologist I'd like to see some screening done.  As a libertarian
it's nobody's business.

As a person who flirts with manic-depression (a good group to be in!
Higher than average IQ), I've been nearly suicidal several times and was
only restrained by ideas of my wife and family.

Most times these impulses pass quickly, as they do for most people, who
then are glad they did not act.

So - it's a thorny one, right?

bill w

On Sat, Sep 24, 2016 at 3:25 PM, Stathis Papaioannou <stathisp at gmail.com>
wrote:

>
>
> On Saturday, 24 September 2016, John Clark <johnkclark at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On Fri, Sep 23, 2016 at 8:02 PM, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:
>>
>> >>…Should terminally ill patients be allowed to end their lives via
>>>> assisted suicide?"
>>>> ​ ​
>>>> "yes but" is not a more complete answer it is a inferior answer than
>>>> "yes".  And there are no ifs ands or even buts about it…​  John K Clark​
>>>>
>>>
>>> ​> ​
>>> Indeed sir?  Suppose the government decides you are terminally ill and
>>> deplorable.  Is it allowed to assist you in suicide?
>>>
>>
>> Yes I think so  because I am a libertarian. I also think it's irrelevant
>> if the government or if anybody else thinks you're terminally ill or not.
>> ​ ​
>> The question was if
>> ​ ​
>> I
>> ​ ​
>> want to end my life, because I'm ill or for any other reason,
>> ​ ​
>> should I be
>> ​ ​
>> allowed to obtain help to do so. My answer is a simple "yes" and I see no
>> need to place a "but" after
>> ​ ​
>> it. If the government wants to help me that's fine,
>> ​ if a company wants to help me for a fee that's fine,​
>> if my friends want to help that's fine too and I don't want them
>> prosecuted for murder after my death. I'm even fine with people who can't
>> stand me helping me do what I want because they think the world will be a
>> better place after I'm dead; if somebody does the right thing for the wrong
>> reason it's still the right thing.
>>
>> I don't want you to get the wrong idea, I'm basically a happy person and
>> I've never had a suicidal thought in my life, although it doesn't
>> take much imagination to conceive of theoretical circumstances where that
>> would change and I (or anybody) would want to end it all. Making somebody
>> live when they want to die as as great a injustice as making somebody die
>> when they want to live. That should be libertarianism 101.
>>
>
> It's not as simple as that. Most people who try to suicide do it as a
> result of a situational crisis or a depressive illness, which we know will
> pass even with no intervention beyond keeping them from killing themselves
> during the worst moments. Should we instead help all these people to die?
>
>
> --
> Stathis Papaioannou
>
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> http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat
>
>
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