Is Suicide Ever Justifiable?

Think of the person closest to you at this very moment in time. Remember all the laughs, the good times, and even try to recall the bad. Think of how you helped each other through those bad times such as a divorce, the loss of a loved one, or the loss of a career in a time of deep financial troubles.

Now, as morbid as it may sound, think of them in their most vulnerable state, at their weakest. Perhaps they are terminally ill with a cancer that is untreatable. Perhaps an accident left internal wounds so severe that surgery is suicide in itself. There is not one painkiller that has worked to take the edge off. Even with oxygen, every breath is exhausting. This person is asked how they feel. They reply, "I wish I had the energy to lift my hand and kill myself to end this pain." Maybe they reply with an "I wish I would just die already".

How do you feel? I feel like I wish I could help them. I want to end their pain, their suffering, or I may even have the desire to take all of their pain unto my own body just to see them smile one last time. The question at this point in time is not the debate of justifying suicide.

The question should be "should I allow this person to continue in such agony, such pain, such suffering for the rest of their short life, however long it may be". One hour of pain can feel like days. Each minute that passes the hope that it will all just end.

What is going through their mind at this point? We know they are in pain we cannot subside. We know they are hurting, wondering what the after life, if any, will bring. Sadly, most humans in this horrific condition are mostly thinking about the debt that will be left, needing to be paid after they pass. Life support, oxygen, and morphine: none of them are cheap. Is it justifiable to let them leave this existence with nothing but worry and fear on their mind? With nothing more than pain that intensifies with each passing second, do we let this continue?

What do veterinarians do every day to animals who were hit by a car, cats with leukemia, or horses with multiple fractures of the legs? They euthanize them. Why? They do this to end suffering and put and end to the pain.

My father in law committed suicide. My father was murdered. My father in law had many worries, and emotional pain. My father had a seemingly bright future. Was my father in law justified? Was my father's murderer justified?

This world is made up of choices. The choice to get educated, the choice to get up each and every

day and go to work, the choice to have children, to marry, to buy a new car: the list is too long.

The choice to die, in times of unbearable agony, either physical or emotional, should be our own choice as well. If there is not a terminal illness the person should indeed discuss their wishes with loved ones. Nonetheless, the choice should be one they are entitled to make.

There are times when a person will feel so down, so useless, so helpless, that nothing will seem to make the future any brighter. This is not the time, which is only qualified as quitting. It is when there is no real outcome that can be deemed good, or a justifiable end to a long journey.

If I were in the hospital, stuck in bed, always in pain, with a terminal diagnosis, and with no end in sight, I hope that someone would 'pull the plug' for me. I do not want to suffer. I do not want to leave hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt that will be passed on to my next of kin, especially considering that the end is inevitable anyway.

Suicide should be a medical process in certain events. We should not allow our terminally ill friend to pull the trigger, nor allow them to buy a rope. A medical team should be assigned to determine if there truly is zero hope of a painless future for them. There has to be a medium to what people today say is always unjustified.

Although my father in law had his own reasons, and was in great emotional pain, the debate to his suicidal end is ongoing. He may have been able to find help. God must have decided that it was his time. My father's death will never be justified. He was not in pain. He was not dying. Someone murdered my father; they did not help him carry out a suicide wish.

The debate is endless. On either side of the debate, there has to be terms and limitations. Suicide is justified in some cases. Many of those cases are going to fall back to personal belief, and the ability to live unaffected after a situation. For instance, a deranged person injects you with an infected needle. You know this man has an incurable disease, such as AIDS. He tells you he is going to make sure you have it to and continues injecting you with needles he has used, or maybe he cuts you and puts his own blood into your open wound. He now has a gun to your head, and says you have a choice. Your choices are to live out some years unknown, with AIDS, and all of its repercussions, or he can end your life right now with a shot. Please shoot me, is what I would say, and so would many others.

Others may choose to wait it out, and later see if they were in fact infected. While there may be a small chance they were not, I do not like my odds. I do not want to live a few more years with doubt, with worrying every second, with worry every time I touch my children, or cut myself while preparing dinner. Asking this man to pull the trigger is assisted suicide, even though he brought you to your final decision, you still asked him to end your future suffering immediately. And, it was justified.

Before one can make a decision on a debate such as justifying suicide, they need to place himself or herself or a loved one in the worst possible situation. They need place themselves in the mindset of a person living each day in the most unbearable pain. Place yourself in the most horrific, and the most morbid, of situations before you choose a side of the debate.