5 ms·

Italy carries out its first assisted suicide

40 points by NoRagrets 4y ago

zx8080 4y ago
- ur-whale 4y ago
  > Why is this on the top hnews page? My, my. Could it be that some folks find the topic interesting and upvoted it?
- Jaruzel 4y ago
  From the FAQ: "On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity." I found the submission interesting, so I guess it qualifies.
- livinglist 4y ago
  question for you is Why can’t this be on the top HN news page?
- yieldcrv 4y ago
  Because the current willingness to have a discussion about suicide is very immature and has room to rapidly evolve. Despite my self preservation priority, it isn’t clear to me that its a priority we should auto-force on others. So copy and pasting a suicide hotline phone number seems empty and patronizing to me, and it’s hard to get people that feel the opposite way to articulate why they feel that way.
politelemon 4y ago
I get anxiety when I read something like this, because I'll try to empathize with their condition and it's hard to figure out what I'd do in those situations. I'm glad they finally found a resolution, but too have to wait twelve years is overwhelming.
- ur-whale 4y ago
  > to have to wait twelve years is overwhelming He could have someone help him board a train to Geneva (a few hours away), hopped the Alps to Geneva and be done with it.
  - joaonmatos 4y ago
    Or maybe they thought that a good use of the remainder of their life was to fight for other people to be able to make that choice regardless of whether they could get to Geneva or not.
  - mariuolo 4y ago
    > He could have someone help him board a train to Geneva (a few hours away), hopped the Alps to Geneva and be done with it. And pay some 8000 CHF. Not everyone has access to such a sum.
difosfor 4y ago
I wonder, why don't we call this self euthanasia or something like that? Suicide has such a negative connotation, i.e: something that could and should have been prevented. Whereas this is a well considered action.
- rozab 4y ago
  This general kind of idea makes me feel like I'm missing a pretty important part of the experience of language, à la https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/03/17/what-universal-human-experiences-are-you-missing-without-realizing-it/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/03/17/what-universal-human-e... To me, assisted suicide is the term of art. It's been used throughout my entire lifetime to refer to a responsible form of self administered euthanasia. To me there is zero ambiguity with the term, and it is never used to refer to cases of suicide where a mentally ill person (but physically healthy) person is helped to kill themselves. When I read this bigram, there is no ugly connotation for me. But it seems like many people have a more emotional experience of language where individual words and even subwords can elicit unpleasant emotional experiences, even in unrelated contexts. And I think this can be hard to emphasize with for the highly analytical-minded typical HN reader. Does anyone know of any brain imaging research done in this area? Can anyone explain the apparent rise in this sort of thing (without mentioning critical theory)?
tablespoon 4y ago
- mburee 4y ago
  Yes, programs such as this, like in Switzerland (well, I think you gotta do it yourself there, still), have totally ended the homelessness and drug addiction problems.
  - tablespoon 4y ago
    > Yes, programs such as this, like in Switzerland (well, I think you gotta do it yourself there, still), have totally ended the homelessness and drug addiction problems. Eh, we're not there yet in any locale. Assisted suicide in certain limited cases can only be a first step, and it may take quite long time for similar solutions to roll out and be common in other areas.
- SpikeDad 4y ago

40 points by NoRagrets 4y ago

ur-whale 4y ago
> Why is this on the top hnews page? My, my. Could it be that some folks find the topic interesting and upvoted it?
Jaruzel 4y ago
From the FAQ: "On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity." I found the submission interesting, so I guess it qualifies.
livinglist 4y ago
question for you is Why can’t this be on the top HN news page?
yieldcrv 4y ago
Because the current willingness to have a discussion about suicide is very immature and has room to rapidly evolve. Despite my self preservation priority, it isn’t clear to me that its a priority we should auto-force on others. So copy and pasting a suicide hotline phone number seems empty and patronizing to me, and it’s hard to get people that feel the opposite way to articulate why they feel that way.

I get anxiety when I read something like this, because I'll try to empathize with their condition and it's hard to figure out what I'd do in those situations. I'm glad they finally found a resolution, but too have to wait twelve years is overwhelming.

ur-whale 4y ago
> to have to wait twelve years is overwhelming He could have someone help him board a train to Geneva (a few hours away), hopped the Alps to Geneva and be done with it.
- joaonmatos 4y ago
  Or maybe they thought that a good use of the remainder of their life was to fight for other people to be able to make that choice regardless of whether they could get to Geneva or not.
- mariuolo 4y ago
  > He could have someone help him board a train to Geneva (a few hours away), hopped the Alps to Geneva and be done with it. And pay some 8000 CHF. Not everyone has access to such a sum.

difosfor 4y ago

I wonder, why don't we call this self euthanasia or something like that? Suicide has such a negative connotation, i.e: something that could and should have been prevented. Whereas this is a well considered action.

rozab 4y ago
This general kind of idea makes me feel like I'm missing a pretty important part of the experience of language, à la https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/03/17/what-universal-human-experiences-are-you-missing-without-realizing-it/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/03/17/what-universal-human-e... To me, assisted suicide is the term of art. It's been used throughout my entire lifetime to refer to a responsible form of self administered euthanasia. To me there is zero ambiguity with the term, and it is never used to refer to cases of suicide where a mentally ill person (but physically healthy) person is helped to kill themselves. When I read this bigram, there is no ugly connotation for me. But it seems like many people have a more emotional experience of language where individual words and even subwords can elicit unpleasant emotional experiences, even in unrelated contexts. And I think this can be hard to emphasize with for the highly analytical-minded typical HN reader. Does anyone know of any brain imaging research done in this area? Can anyone explain the apparent rise in this sort of thing (without mentioning critical theory)?

tablespoon 4y ago

mburee 4y ago
Yes, programs such as this, like in Switzerland (well, I think you gotta do it yourself there, still), have totally ended the homelessness and drug addiction problems.
- tablespoon 4y ago
  > Yes, programs such as this, like in Switzerland (well, I think you gotta do it yourself there, still), have totally ended the homelessness and drug addiction problems. Eh, we're not there yet in any locale. Assisted suicide in certain limited cases can only be a first step, and it may take quite long time for similar solutions to roll out and be common in other areas.
SpikeDad 4y ago