Canadians and the Assisted Suicide problem

[Baffle]

People shouldn't be obliged to live, it's as simple as that. In the video you've linked (and I know nothing more about this story) there's an obvious solution that wouldn't be death, which is that the state provides enough to live on; if it doesn't and the alternative the guy is presented with is, for him, not worth living for, he shouldn't have to.

We're all going to have our own line below which we wouldn't consider life worth living, whether that line relates to income, housing, personal relationships, physical health, mental health, whatever. And we shouldn't have to accept a life below that line if we don't want to, even if the only alternative is to wholly reject that life. If we can fix those problems so we live above the line, then that is good; if we cannot (and many of them will be problems we cannot fix ourselves or alone, especially societal ones like the guy above is suffering from), we shouldn't be forced to live below the line until a slow and unpleasant death comes.

Personally I'm terrified of having a stroke and being trapped in a body I don't want any more, but unable to end it because of the physical limitations that are the exact problem I have with the body.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

Instead of arguing why assisted suicide is a bad thing because people like the man in the video posted earlier can use it as a way out... maybe we should argue how and why the system is failing to support the people who need it enough so they don't feel that it's the better option

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

I mean, it's not even a secret that capitalism demands poor people die in order to make or save money, Canada's just being slightly more blatant about it.

 

[gorfias]

Instead of arguing why assisted suicide is a bad thing because people like the man in the video posted earlier can use it as a way out... maybe we should argue how and why the system is failing to support the people who need it enough so they don't feel that it's the better option

I think that is exactly why that was posted. "Poor? We have a solution that only takes minutes!"

When it was first being introduced, mental illness disqualified people from making use of this. Looks like even more mundane reasons exist now.

Kurt Vonnegut wrote a short story about an over populated world where sex=death. That one should find suicide sexy.

I infer from someone's earlier post that slipper slope arguments are inherently invalid.

Well, feels like we're here at this point:

 

[Specter Von Baren]

Canadian veteran says government caseworker offered her euthanasia

Retired Army Corporal Christine Gauthier, a former Paralympian, testified in Parliament on Thursday that a Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) caseworker made the euthanasia offer.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Baffle]

Canadian veteran says government caseworker offered her euthanasia

Retired Army Corporal Christine Gauthier, a former Paralympian, testified in Parliament on Thursday that a Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) caseworker made the euthanasia offer.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Ha ha ha. "Look, if this is really bothering you we can just kill you instead? It'd be quicker?"

Yeah, that person probably shouldn't be customer facing, but that doesn't change that people should have a right to die, even if not everyone wants to take up this fantastoic cut-price offer.

 

[Gergar12]

Canada literally has lots of million-dollar homes in Vancouver. Fucking tax the people living in them, and get the homeless some homes by themselves. I don't know why national governments have to suck up landlords everywhere from Hong Kong to the United States.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Canada literally has lots of million-dollar homes in Vancouver. Fucking tax the people living in them, and get the homeless some homes by themselves. I don't know why national governments have to suck up landlords everywhere from Hong Kong to the United States.

Cause's that's socialism or whatever.

Somewhat less flippantly, governments will always have to choice to join a struggle between the powerful and the powerless. One side they want on their side (and they are generally part of it anyway), the other is disposable.

 

[meiam]

Canada literally has lots of million-dollar homes in Vancouver. Fucking tax the people living in them, and get the homeless some homes by themselves. I don't know why national governments have to suck up landlords everywhere from Hong Kong to the United States.

Because increasing tax doesn't necessarily lead to higher tax intact since money can move around and and higher tax encourage people to take more action to avoid them.

People who own home also tend to be richer and older, which makes them much more likely to vote, so government tend to be very careful of doing anything that would anger that voting group.

And home occupation rate in many city is really high, usually 95-98%, there's simply not enough housing for everyone who want to live there, let alone to house all the homeless. To fix this problem you need to build more house, but that tend to be very unpopular with resident which is why it happens much too slowly. You could ignore resident objection, but good luck ever winning another election after that.

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

Some many points and angles covered clearly in this Canadian's video.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

Canada Will Legalize Medically Assisted Dying For Eligible People Addicted to Drugs

Eligible candidates must have an extensive treatment history and won’t qualify solely based on a lack of social supports, according to Health Canada.

www.vice.com

 

[Ag3ma]

Canada Will Legalize Medically Assisted Dying For Eligible People Addicted to Drugs

Eligible candidates must have an extensive treatment history and won’t qualify solely based on a lack of social supports, according to Health Canada.

www.vice.com

I don't have a problem with this in principle, although the devil is in the detail.

Firstly, I think it is discriminatory to say someone has unbearable physical illness, but cannot have unbearable mental illness: this trivialises and stigmatises mental illness.

The issue of drug addiction is perhaps a sensitive one, but there is a clear rationale to view it as a mental health issue. The law then requires people to make substantial attempts at treatment before being permitted assisted dying: if their support for their addiction is inadequate, they should not meet this criteria and thus not get permission. There should, therefore, in theory be an automatic block from society just offing inconvenient addicts.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

I don't have a problem with this in principle, although the devil is in the detail.

Firstly, I think it is discriminatory to say someone has unbearable physical illness, but cannot have unbearable mental illness: this trivialises and stigmatises mental illness.

The issue of drug addiction is perhaps a sensitive one, but there is a clear rationale to view it as a mental health issue. The law then requires people to make substantial attempts at treatment before being permitted assisted dying: if their support for their addiction is inadequate, they should not meet this criteria and thus not get permission. There should, therefore, in theory be an automatic block from society just offing inconvenient addicts.

Even if our conclusions on this are different, I do appreciate that you have put thought into this and have a logical reasoning for your position.