If you are skydiving, you pull the parachute and it does not come out, you know that you are going to die. For the two minutes you have to fall you decide to think whether you should land on your feet. Maybe there be a chance for you to live but you dont want to go through the pain and with that you decided to fall fead first, is that considered to be suicide?
That is a hard question to answer since in such a situation you will find that your thinking is not with much planning for long term consequences. However, I think purposely trying to make it a quick death will not be counted as suicide by an all merciful Father given your circumstances, BUT at the same time there have been people who have been in a similar situation and lived! So if there is a possibility that you will live and yet you take your own life purposely because you do not want to live as a quadriplegic, then that could be seen as definite suicide.
It could not be considered suicide if the person is just choosing how to die "faster". If he/she is placed in a situation where death is imminent and the person is fully aware of it, I do not think the choice could be consider as suicide. But if he/she is in a situation where there is at least a very, very small chance to survive, but the person overlooks it for fear of staying disable his/her whole life after that, then it could be consider as suicide.
Nevertheless, it is very hard to answer based on the "thinking" of the person placed in such circumstance for the simple fact that survival instinct is a very powerful thing.
Edited: LDS_forever on 8th Oct, 2006 - 8:39pm
That's a tough one because there are so many variables. I would say that if you knew you had a chance to live but chose to die to avoid the pain or a disability, it would be suicide. I normally think of suicide as something one commits who is in emotional pain or has phycological problems, while this is more like a spontaneous panicked decision. Still, I think it's suicide.