Originally Posted by
Gandalf
But take depression for instance. Doctors just want to prescribe a pill and in the case of depression the medications are often no more effective than a placebo and can bring on feelings of suicide. How can a person with depression really think straight when the supposed positive effects of the medicine aren't even real and that the drug can make you feel even more hopeless? 'So, let's just end your life' says the doctor after seeing the bank statement. When doctors are so short term that a pill answers everything then why would you let it involve suicide too? These often aren't people who genuinely care.
What we fail to do is address why people might be depressed. What is it about society today that means more people are taking pills every year, that they are working longer hours, struggling more, unable to even prepare for old age. It is a cop out for society to say, 'Life is just too hard, kill 'em'. But you never took the time to address why the homeless man was so down, or why the old lady felt so helpless. I just don't think assisted suicide is acceptable when we have made no attempts to address the serious flaws in the system.
People would be less likely to commit suicide if they didn't feel so desperately helpless. A careless society creates people who feel useless and will take that way out. It isn't a solution to anything. It is societies creep method of saying 'let's make it acceptable to weed out poor vulnerable people' and that is very dodgy.