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How do you tell the difference between someone suffering from depression that wants to die but could cure their depression and someone that just wants to die?
by JohnJamesRambo 4y ago
How do you tell the difference between someone suffering from depression that wants to die but could cure their depression and someone that just wants to die? Depression is an illness and it makes people do and say all kinds of things they wouldn't normally.
What if you are 80 and just have low testosterone and want to die but then you start trt and things really get a lot better? Which "you" wanted to die and which should get to make that decision? What is the authentic you?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus
- int_19h 4y agoAt some point, you just accept that people get to make important choices about themselves, and will sometimes make ones that don't necessarily make sense.
- throwaway892238 4y agoI'm all for making people's lives better. But people deserve the choice of what treatment they will or won't accept. That's what informed consent is about. We don't force surgeries on people just because they have a good prognosis; the person still has to consent to the surgery (if they are capable). Even if there is a treatment with a very good prognosis that could magically make you happier, you deserve the right to say "no" anyway. So let's absolutely make sure somebody is informed and of sound mind before we put euthanasia on the table. But let them have agency over their own life after that.
- O__________O 4y agoFeel it is likely you are over estimating modern medicine’s ability to judge if someone is of sound mind.
- bawolff 4y agoThere are some difficult philosophical questions here. If someone has an ailment, that is causing their mind to think euthanasia is the answer, but if they had the treatment to the ailment, they would no longer think so, are they of sound mind? I'm not sure where the line is on that, and i think its far from obvious.
- BeefWellington 4y agoAgreed. Likewise though, there's an ethical dilemma the other way: Is it acceptable to force treatment on someone? These are not easy questions and while I personally believe that assisted dying legislation will prevent a lot of needless suffering, I also believe there will be people effectively killed by this who could have otherwise had fulfilling happy lives but couldn't see the path out of the woods or were unable to make that journey.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- LorenPechtel 4y agoI thought the Canadian standard required that the problem be incurable.