Switzerland Wrongly Pushes Assisted Suicide for Mentally Ill Patients
by Wesley J. Smith
The Swiss Supreme Court recently ruled that people with mental illnesses can be legally assisted in suicide. The case came about when a member of Dignitas, an organization, which, for a fee, provides a safe house for-and assistance with-suicide, brought a lawsuit seeking the right to die. The man does not have cancer, AIDS or other physical illness, as that term is popularly understood. Rather, he is depressed from bipolar disease. But this did not prevent the court from giving its imprimatur to his assisted suicide. According to the International Herald Tribune, the Swiss high court ruled, "It must be recognized that an incurable, permanent, serious mental disorder can cause similar suffering as a physical (disorder), making life appear unbearable to the patient in the long term." No one should be surprised by the Swiss ruling. The two weight-bearing ideological pillars of euthanasia/assisted suicide advocacy-a radical individualistic notion of "self ownership" and the deemed propriety of killing as an acceptable answer to the problem of human suffering-virtually compel this result. After all, many people suffer more intensely and for far longer than people who are dying. And, if "choice" is the be all and end all of personal freedom, then who can gainsay a suffering person's decision to die? Hence, rather than being a radical extension of assisted suicide ideology, the Swiss court decision is simply its logical outcome.
Ref. https://www.lifenews.com/bio1981.html
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The man does not have cancer, AIDS or other physical illness, as that term is popularly understood. Rather, he is depressed from bipolar disease |
Physician assisted suicide is a very controversial issue even in our own country. There is currently only one state that deems it a legal action, and that is Oregon. Patients are given the opportunity, if they have an incurable physical disease then they can meet with a physician to puruse assisted suicide.
Part of that decision comes from the client being mentally capable of making that decision. If they are not, then they are not allowed to make that decision. I question whether a patient who has a mental illness would be capable of making that decision and truly understand the repercussions of their decision.
For more Information about Switz Health please see the Switzerland Index.
To me this is irresponsible and unethical. A person with mental illness is unable to fully grasp the consequences of their actions to make such a decision. Almost 100% of the mentally ill I work with have a different outlook and are glad they did not complete the act once they are stabilized on medications and have received other appropriate treatment. Suicide is often a cry for help. It is a small percentage who actually wish to die. They want to end their suffering and misery but if they can regain a quality of life and some resemblance of happiness most will choose to live. If they are assisted to die while in the depths of depression they will never have that chance.
Suicide is against the law of god. There is a special place for those in hell that commit suicide. I believe that assisted suicide is the same thing. One has to wonder if suicide is in your mind at the time of having someone assist you you will be going to that special hell. There are other ways of dealing with your problems. The mentally challenged are not always in thier right mind to understand what they are doing or asking is not a good thing. I hope the government can understand this and not allow this to be a common thing.
It is not responsible in my books to assist a mental ill patient to commit suicide. Personally I think the person assisting will be under the toilet of those who committed suicide when they reach the other side.