Going to add my own thoughts to this topic.
As many, i'm all for "helping" the medically ill to pass away, if they are willing and confirmed this in a determined fixed period (a month ?). Who are we, to force people to live on in pretty harsh conditions, when they've already "lived" for longer than us ? Establishing this age limit is of course an whole different problem, but i believe, as already said, than 80 years old is a decent age. The good thing about medically assisted suicide, is that it's being controlled/followed. And that is usually not the case for the standard suicide.
[Cynical tone]
Standard suicide, as in people killing themselves by themselves, without any secondary help, are very selfish people. For first, they don't even care about the police, who will have to conduct a search and investigate, to confirm if it's really a suicide or if it's a murder. Oh, he left a note saying it's a suicide and all. Better check the handwriting,... And what about the medical department, having to verify the corpse, if it has any other wound. Is it a suicide because of working conditions, because of emotional conflict,.. ? Someone blowed his head off in his appartment ? I pity the worker who'll have to wash off all this blood. If only the dead could have done it in the bathroom, damn selfish bastard.
The worst people are of course the ones deciding to end their life in public. "Let's jump off the roof, i don't care if i hit someone or someone's car below, since i'll be dead already." "Let's jump in front of that train, i don't care if all the passengers will be postponed for half an hour, and if the driver will get an emotional trauma."
And, obviously, it's better for the society if the suicidees don't "miss" themselves and are actually helped in that matter. In special houses or whatever. The cost of a suicidee is huge. And it's the people living on who have to pay it.
If you have the will to choose thir super ugly wardrobe and wear it in public, no matter what people told you, then why shouldn't you have the will to die, no matter what people told you. They didn't even WANT life, they were just given it.
[End of cynical tone]
Of course, we're not even discussing the "reason" for the suicide, just the plain fact, and what usually follows. If only the government allowed people to suicide, create a special service, to confirm if this person has thought it over, and if his life conditions are indeed pretty terrible, if he doesn't have the courage to live on,... Then things will be a lot less messier. It won't be that much of a selfish suicide. But as it stands, it is a crime to suicide, no matter your age, no matter your circumstances, so why care about the rest of the world, when this world doesn't even care about you ? Is it consider selfish not caring about a stranger, that doesn't care about you ? What about a group of strangers ? What about the rest of the world ?
If someone is so isolated, that he is in that case, then no matter his age, i would assist him and support him in his suicide attempt. If he thought it over. No matter the age. He doesn't have the courage to live on ? What use is it for that person knowing that it will be better nine months from now, if he can't stand thoses nine months and don't want to stand thoses nine months ? Because people usually go through some sort of rebellious stage when they want to suicide (to show off to the rest of the world, to laugh happily in hell when watching the people who shouted on him earlier, now crying blaming themselves,...) and shrug it off/survive through it, they think everybody can ? We're all different emotionnally, some are weaker then others, no matter the age. Limiting assisted suicide to only the elderly is forcing the people to live whatever shitty life they have, even when they don't want to. And even worse, it can make them feel terrible : For example, a man wants to suicide. He's 30 years old. He can't. He has a life insurance, but has a terrible life. And just wants to end it. He thinks he'll write a testament, giving al money to some kind of charity helping ill children. But he can't die. And everytime, he'll see numbers about dead ill children, and other numbers near it : "Help us. For every 30 euros, you'll make a child happy". But he can't. He can't be happy, and he can't even make other people happy. Even worse, since he's so poor, and isn't allowed to die, he's taken in a hospital. Watched, taken care off, all of this using the money of people who would maybe need it more than him. He feels terrible for not dying. No matter his age."
[Personal thought : ]
I'm all in favor of assisted suicide, provided a real helper following that person, and confirming it's not just a random thought. It's actually VERY selfish of other people to force strangers to stay alive. Just because themselves decided to, when confronted with a maybe, somewhat, relatively similar situation. Again, we're all different, we never asked for this life, we have rights. Why not the right to die, without having any negative impact on anybody ? Who are we to judge that his situation isn't that terrible, he should be able to live through it, and hopefully it will get better ? The parents may have a bit of that right, since they gave birth to that person. But at [insert legal age of your country], this person is independant. And his life should be is. So after [legal age], this person should be able to get the right to suicide. As for AntiBlitz affair of the 12years old age suicide, this is imo a special case. Bullies being left to roam around, emotional assistance not available in school for that age, friends not noticing about it or not telling about it, and parents not noticing about it. It is a "forced" suicide, imo. Not the standard suicide. And should never happen in our society.
I don't know if that's still on topic, but for me, everything that is neither a murder or an accident is a suicide, this below could serve to either get a 0/20 (or F) for offtopic, or be considered a good "opening" in your conclusion :
Another peculiar case, that i didn't see mentioned so far (or that i've missed out, sorry if that's the case), is the people in coma for very long period. There's no knowing when a person will, if she ever will, come out of coma. And this person clearly can't express if she wants to live on, or not. An affair was brought to light in France, when an husband had been in coma for a very long time (5 years maybe, don't remember). And the wife, the friends had all lost hope and wanted to ask for the right to kill him off, let him go to heaven (or hell), rather than spending hundreds and hundreds to keeping him alive. Will the doctor be labeled as a murderer for killing him off, or is it a form of suicide ? It all depends on what you consider "living". For me, it means expressing yourself in one way or another, in our world. And that's clearly one of the things any people in coma can't do. They can't interact in our world. In that, they may already be dead. But deads don't rise again, but people in coma can. Pretty touchy subject. Who has the right to decides of one's own life, when that person can't ? In our affair, the parents were against killing off their son, so even if the lover/friends/everybody else wanted to end it, it actually went to the justice.
It's not even easy deciding of a legal clause for assisted suicide, so talking about people in coma is a lot harder. But i feel it is somewhat linked, as in as long as people won't be able to gain a legal clause for assisted suicide, then people in coma won't be allowed to die either.
Anyway, a nice topic of conversation, and how i would love to be sitting a a circular room, hearing directly everyone's thought, and debatting about it. A way more interesting subject that the death sentence, imo.
