Thom Hartmann - Should suicide be a right or a crime?

[thomhartmann]

Run time: 09:17 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IILNazxfe2Q   Posted on YouTube: March 05, 2010 By YouTube Member: thomhartmann Views on YouTube: 52   Posted on DU: March 05, 2010 By DU Member: thomhartmann Views on DU: 597

 
The Thom Hartmann Program can be heard daily M-F 12-3pm ET. Visit www.thomhartmann.com to listen live, join the community or purchase a podcast.

[Silent3]

1. I can think of a few cases where it should be a duty.

But let's not entertain such unkind thoughts too much. :)

[troubledamerican]

11. Mandatory at your 30th birthday.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logan%27s_Run_(film)

[Ozymanithrax]

2. Should dieing from a preventable illness be a right or a crime?

Most suicides are not the act of a healthy mind. I'm not talking about an end of life decision for those terminally ill or in untreatable pain. Most suicides are by people who are relatively healthy physically suffering from depression. It should not be a crime to be depressed, but putting a bullet in your brain under those circumstances should be discouraged.

[skypilot]

3. Strange question.

I can't view the video at the moment. Are they talking about whether assisting someone with committing suicide should be a crime? Or are they talking about criminal charges for someone who attempts suicide and fails? A person who successfully commits suicide obviously isn't going to be around to face any criminal charges.

[tech9413]

4. Here's a question

If I commit suicide, who and how am I going to be punished?

[LatteLibertine]

5. IMO terminally ill folks

should be able to request physician assisted suicide.

People shouldn't be reduced to taking their lives in dangerous or violent ways.

Obviously, extreme caution should be taken.

[defendandprotect]

6. Assisted suicide should be a right -- let's get to it -- !!!

[Shining Jack]

7. I totally agree.

[icee]

8. It should be a right! And not only for those who are simply terminal,

imo. Last year a real estate investment I was in declared bankruptcy and some elderly people lost their entire life savings. This was a very safe investment: the company had never missed a single interest payment or principal repayment in its entire history. Some people have committed suicide; others are contemplating it, clearing up details so their children won't have hassles plus planning how to spend their final days. It's like the Maddoff thing, where many many people have allegedly committed suicide. Should these people be punished for doing the deed? Or should they sit happily in their houses freezing and eating Cheerios for dinner? I have a feeling this is going to be a real problem going forward. I say let them decide for themselves. Oh, and how about people who DO NOT have terminal illnesses but cannot afford surgery or treatments? That is going to be another problem, no matter whether HCR passes or not. What about these folks? People should be able to die in what they perceive to be dignity. They sell end-of-life pills in some countries, I have heard from people on websites. Is this good or bad?

[Goldstein1984]

9. A person's life belongs to them alone.

They decide how to live it, and they decide whether to live it.

If something is a right, then it's a right, whether or not a government has declared it illegal.

In a developing police state, this is a principle that none of us should forget.

[liberation]

10. If a society doesn't feel like chipping in and help people who require assistance to live

that same society should not have the gall to forbid the people who need it, a humane way out.

The same people who love to tell others how much they love life, they become rather mute when it comes to put their money where their mouth is. Thus it leads me to believe their stances had never anything to do with altruistic love for life, but with an unhealthy love affair with limiting freedom and choices.

Also why are all the same religious people who are hell bent in praising the supposed after life, the same ones who are mortified of death? If there was indeed a heaven out there, one would assume that the one willing to die first would be the pope, for example. Front row sitting and first class accommodations in heaven? Where do I sign?