You've been diagnosed with a terminal disease.....

[Rayne]

Here's the scenario. You've been diagnosed with a terminal disease, be it cancer, Alzheimer's (not immediately terminal, but I think the point remains), or some other disease in which a doctor tells you "You will be dead within a short frame of time." As always is the case, doctors are not omnipotent, and they can be wrong- however, the news in your case gives no reason to be hopeful.

Would you commit suicide?

This is of course a question that no one can truthfully answer until they're put to it. (Before anyone asks, so far as I know I'm fit as a fiddle, just out of shape from trying to play Ultimate with 18-year olds. Same goes for my loved ones, minus the part about Ultimate.) But if you were forced to confront your death, and the shape it would take, how do you think you would decide it?

 

[George Steele's Barber]

No, that would be completely unfair and selfish. As long as I am reasonably able to function I would want to do things for myself or for or with others who care about me and I care about them.

Now when my pain reaches an overwhelming point, I am too much of a burden to care for or am officially a vegetable go ahead and pull the plug. But otherwise I want the little time I have to feel meaningful and give to the people that cared about me and will remember.

 

[hatehabsforever]

Absolutely not. I could never do that to the loved ones that I would be leaving behind. As a single parent, how could I consider doing such a thing, and leave that legacy for my kids to have to cope with? I cannot imagine ever feeling so hopeless that I would have no alternative than such a drastic measure.

I'd maximize whatever time I had for as long as I had, do that once I'm gone, there'd be plenty of great memories.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Well, I have no kids and my parents are gone, so maybe it's easier for me to take the opposite course from the previous posters, but if the disease was definitely fatal and treatment would only prolong my suffering, I'd try to reasonably determine how much useful time I had left and make sure I enjoy it as much as possible. I'd travel, dance, eat at fancy places, be with friends and do for others as much as I can.

When I can't live my life the way I want to, it's time to go. By it's very nature, an end-of-life decision has to be a selfish one. It's a road you must travel alone......but if you're going to wind up dead one way or the other from this disease, I think it's proper to go on your own terms.....not death's. If squeezing every moment out of life is what you choose for yourself, that's great. Not me, though.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I would never take my own life, not even if I was diagnosed with a terminal disease. It comes down to one's personal values. Life is a gift that is given to us, by ending your own life you are denying that gift. It would also lead to a very painful and difficult time for your family/friends/peers who you leave behind. No matter who you are, there is at least one person out there who cares about you that would be sad to see you do that to yourself. I don't believe that suicide is ever an answer, so I will not do it if this scenario were to happen.

I believe that everything, within reason, happens the way it is intended to. If I were to be diagnosed with a terminal disease, then that is what happens. I'd take the bad news, share it with a very small group of people (the wife and MAYBE a few close friends) but that's it. I wouldn't want people feeling sorry for me and would dislike the type of attention I'd get from people knowing about something I felt was none of their business. It would also give me a chance to do things I had always wanted to do but never got around to, since I'd have even more limited time to do them at that point. I'd try to enjoy the last leg of my life as best I could knowing that the end is coming, there's no point in speeding up the process, that would go against my personal religious values.

 

[The Brain]

As completely bizarre as this may sound, suicide doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. What I mean by that is the alternative could be far worse. Have you guys watched someone close to you suffer? It is the most painful experience one could go through. If I was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or Dementia I probably would commit suicide. I don’t want to get too much into my personal life but on my days off work I visit a loved one at a care center. I see people who suffer from these diseases. Some are worse than others but none seem to be happy at all. Some are barely able to function at all and are simply existing rather than living. I don’t ever want to get to the point where I am just existing in a bed and waiting for someone to feed me, change me, and bathe me. That is a fate worse than death. If I know that is where I’m headed I’m just going to end it before I get there. For those of you who think that’s selfish I couldn’t disagree more. I think it is far more selfish to insist that your loved one go on suffering so you won’t have to coupe with the loss. I have a very hard time thinking this but I am ready for my loved one to check out. For as much as it devastates me to even have that thought cross my mind I just want the suffering to end.

 

[klunderbunker]

No.

There's a guy at my church who was told last year that he had 6 weeks to live and to the best of my knowledge he's still alive. In the time that he's had left, he's been able to put his affairs in order and spend time with his family. All of them are mostly at peace now and while the finals days will be hard, they'll be more prepared for the moment. Also there's still a chance he could survive.

At the end of the day, there's always a chance and until you breathe your last, it could still get better. I couldn't end my life when there's still even the glimmer of hope.

 

[Daniel]

Every bone in my fairly healthy 19 year-old body is saying "no, I'd be out there doing awesome air kicks". But terminal illness is one of those things which I can't even imagine what it'd be like. It's simply far too alien to me. Therefore, I can't make a full assessment of the situation. It's hypothetical at the moment, so it's easy for me to say no. If it was to ever become real, then that changes everything. I just can't be sure in what way.

So, yeah. Schrödinger's Cat or something is applicable here. I think.

 

[Miko]

Not until I started to get to the point where I couldnt fend for myself, not a nice thought, having someone come around and wipe your arse after you, not knowing where you are, I hate to see that, its humiliating, this was once a strong, healthy person and now they're a shell, better off dead.

I wouldnt kill myself if I had a terminal illness, there is still a load of shit I have to do, like drive a car into a swimming pool, small ambition I know, but if I am dying then why not? Sounds like a larf.

 

[JWGunslinger]

Hell no. As KB stated there are plenty of times the doc will tell someone that and they end up living much longer, you shouldnt take your life and damn well not on something that could be wrong. But even if it was certain, why would you end your life because of that? Go out on a high mark and live it up, so many of us live our lives in slow and dreary ways trying to make sure we live well when we get older. If you know you're about to die you can go out and really live, you dont have to worry about petty little problems and live for fun. You could spend money like you hadnt before, take a trip somewhere you always wanted to go, take risks you never used to. Commit suicide? Hell No.

 

[The Brain]

Hell no. As KB stated there are plenty of times the doc will tell someone that and they end up living much longer, you shouldnt take your life and damn well not on something that could be wrong. But even if it was certain, why would you end your life because of that? Go out on a high mark and live it up, so many of us live our lives in slow and dreary ways trying to make sure we live well when we get older. If you know you're about to die you can go out and really live, you dont have to worry about petty little problems and live for fun. You could spend money like you hadnt before, take a trip somewhere you always wanted to go, take risks you never used to. Commit suicide? Hell No.

You can go ahead and live it up but what happens when you reach the point when you can no longer care for yourself and don't even know where you are? What happens when you don't recognize anybody in your life and you have to rely and strangers to help you with the most menial tasks? Why would you want to live like that? I'm not just questioning you Sawyer. I'm quoting you because you happened to be the last response. I just think that you guys don't know what kind of horrible existence you would be in for. I'm not saying I would just end it all the day I was diagnosed. Once I got to the point where it was obvious I was slipping away and it was obvious there was no hope I wouldn't see the point of continuing. Let me got out on my own terms and be remembered for who I was instead of ending up an invalid.

 

[Rayne]

I posed the question, and it's unfair, because I know I can't answer it.

One of my personal heroes is Ernest Hemingway. Shortly before his death, he was diagnosed with hemochromatosis, which is a disease which keeps the body from metabolizing iron, resulting in a slow but unpreventable mental and physical decay. Since 1961, it has become (to a degree) treatable, but at that time it was a death sentence. Rather than stick around for the decline, Hemingway committed suicide.

There are some ailments which I'm not sure I am mentally strong enough to endure. Locked-in syndrome, which affects many catastrophic stroke sufferers, leaves the brain completely healthy while rendering the victim incapable of movement. (If you haven't, read "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly". It's a must-read.) I'm not sure if that's a hell I could withstand. On that token, I have a distant relative whom I saw over the summer, suffering from Alzheimer's. The worst part for him is that you can see that although he's missing quite a lot, he's aware of what he's missing from when he was in his mental prime, and it will drive him into fits of anger at himself. If there's one thing I value more than anything else in this world, it's my mind and its ability to interpret and survey my environment. From that, everything else I love stems from.

Some illnesses are worth fighting. Inoperable brain tumors have been known to disappear; the odds aren't too hot, but it's happened. Death sentences like unvaccinated rabies have been shown to no longer necessarily been death sentences. For me, it's not about giving up in the face of difficult odds; it's about ultimate control over my life.

I can't say that I know. But I do know that I can't consider suicide under those circumstances an act of self-absorption. If there is one thing that I'd like to believe I have ultimate control over, it's the choice to be alive.

 

[Silly Willy Nilly Vanilly in the Milly]

God, no. That would be totally and narcissistically (did I spell that right?) selfish.
Should I be diagnosed with ANY sort of disease, I would use the time that I had left to spend with my family and friends.
Also, I know a man who has Lou Gehrig's disease, and he was given 24 hours to live. That was 7 years ago.
But even if the short time frame was accurate, I'd make the most of every moment I had left.

 

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

Totally conditional on what kind of disease I have. If it's something where I'm gradually going to be in more and more pain until I finally do, or something where I'll die an excruciating and awful death...then yes. I can't handle pain very well, and I wouldn't want my family to have to sit there and listen to my body literally torture itself.

 

[Loveless]

Given my recent poor health and general mentalness this has been on my mind recently but the point I come to, and it's the same one everytime, is that it's a pointless gesture. I don't believe there is anything beyond this life, it would only hurt the people around me, it would simply be not functioning anymore, nothingness. There might be a purpose in pain relief but even then, I'd rather be drugged out of my mind for 23 hours a day than dead, and hell, Morphine is a fucking lovely drug.

Mmm Morphine, I could go for some of that now.