<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"comic sans ms",sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:27.2px">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?<span style="color:rgb(136,136,136);font-size:27.2px">- </span></div><span class="gmail-HOEnZb" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:27.2px"><font color="#888888">Stathis Papaioannou<br></font></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"comic sans ms",sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span class="gmail-HOEnZb" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:27.2px"><font color="#888888"><br></font></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"comic sans ms",sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span class="gmail-HOEnZb" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:27.2px"><font color="#888888">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.</font></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"comic sans ms",sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span class="gmail-HOEnZb" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:27.2px"><font color="#888888"><br></font></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"comic sans ms",sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span class="gmail-HOEnZb" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:27.2px"><font color="#888888">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. </font></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"comic sans ms",sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span class="gmail-HOEnZb" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:27.2px"><font color="#888888"><br></font></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"comic sans ms",sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span class="gmail-HOEnZb" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:27.2px"><font color="#888888">Most times these impulses pass quickly, as they do for most people, who then are glad they did not act.</font></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"comic sans ms",sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span class="gmail-HOEnZb" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:27.2px"><font color="#888888"><br></font></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"comic sans ms",sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span class="gmail-HOEnZb" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:27.2px"><font color="#888888">So - it's a thorny one, right?</font></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"comic sans ms",sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span class="gmail-HOEnZb" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:27.2px"><font color="#888888"><br></font></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"comic sans ms",sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span class="gmail-HOEnZb" style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:27.2px"><font color="#888888">bill w</font></span></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Sep 24, 2016 at 3:25 PM, Stathis Papaioannou <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:stathisp@gmail.com" target="_blank">stathisp@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><span class=""><br><br>On Saturday, 24 September 2016, John Clark <<a href="mailto:johnkclark@gmail.com" target="_blank">johnkclark@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif">On Fri, Sep 23, 2016 at 8:02 PM, spike </span><span dir="ltr" style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><<a>spike66@att.net</a>></span><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"> wrote:</span><br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><div lang="EN-US"><div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><font size="4"><span style="font-family:calibri,sans-serif">>>…Should terminally ill patients be allowed to end their lives via assisted suicide?"</span><span style="font-family:calibri,sans-serif"> <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline"> </div></span><span style="font-family:calibri,sans-serif">"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<br></span><span style="font-family:calibri,sans-serif"> </span></font></blockquote><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">> </div>Indeed sir? Suppose the government decides you are terminally ill and deplorable. Is it allowed to assist you in suicide?</div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><font size="4">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.<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline"> </div>The question was if<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline"> </div>I<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline"> </div>want to end my life, because I'm ill or for any other reason,<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline"> </div>should I be<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline"> </div>allowed to obtain help to do so. My answer is a simple "yes" and I see no need to place a "but" after<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline"> </div>it. If the government wants to help me that's fine,<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline"> if a company wants to help me for a fee that's fine,</div> 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.</font><div><div class="gmail_default" style="display:inline"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><br></font></div></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="display:inline"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="4">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.</font></font></div></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="display:inline"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"></font></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div></span><div>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?<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><span></span></font></span></div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br><br>-- <br>Stathis Papaioannou<br>
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