Suicide

The attitudes about suicide for Christian philosophers oppose suicide on the grounds that it violates the commandment “thou shalt not kill”. Noting the well studied link between depression and suicide, it is necessary to question giving sole responsibility of assisting patients in making end of life treatment decision to these physicians. Consequently, if the physician’s ultimate role is viewed as the relief of suffering, then he can in good conscience continue to fulfill his contractual obligation to the patient by providing the autonomously chosen “service” of assisted suicide (Malcolm, p13).

In opposition to suicide, philosophers maintained that there is nothing necessarily immoral about suicide. The goal of a traditional Christian death is not a pleasing final chapter to life, but union with God: holiness. Epictetus also decribed a person’s option to whether they should commit suicide by remembering first of all that the door stands open. Another criticism Hume considered was that if determining the time of death is entirely up to God to determine when someone should die. But if it begins to shake my mind, if it destroys my faculties one by one, if it leaves me not life but breath, I will depart from the putrid or the tottering edifice” – if the Roman philosopher Seneca knew that he must suffer without hope of relief then he will not depart from the world through fear of the pain itself but because it prevent all for which he should live. Maybe the question not be “How bad am I suffering?” but “Where can I seek meaning in life, once caught in the jaws of suffering?”(Fairlie, p206) It certainly would be nice if all patients could find such a meaning through suffering. For when a situation seem to be either slightly grim or grievous then question yourself and decide should I remain and deal with the problem or should I quit and end my life right here at this moment. The reason is that health care workers are guided by the Hippocratic oath, which advocates respect for all human life. Thus, the recent passage of Oregon Measure 16, which would permit physician suicide under certain conditions, has forced a reevaluation of the proper role for caregivers of patients who are dying or otherwise intractably suffering from “non-terminal illness (Sach, p4). For instance, Plato opposed suicide since it “frustrates the decree of destiny”(Plato, 1993); he also argued “the gods are our guardians, and that we are a possession of theirs, then there may be reason in saying that a man should wait, and not take his own life until God summons him, as he is now summoning me”(Plato, 1993). But as a society we can choose to see suicide among older persons as a rational decision, in the best interest of the individual and the society, we can see it as a tragedy – in many cases, a preventable tragedy.