by Jeff Corless

Created on: November 30, 2007

The question of suicide has long been studied and debated. People can decide to refuse medical treatment for life-threatening illnesses resulting in death. Is this considered suicide? When people reach a point in their lives when it is too painful to continue living, suicide is often the only solution. People should not be expected to endure a life of personal torment or physical pain when there is an obvious way to relieve this discomfort.

Some people choose to make the ultimate sacrifice for their country. They pledge their lives for the protection of American citizens and others around the world. Many soldiers are killed during wars that they have volunteered to fight by joining the military. Knowing this may happen, they make a conscious decision to commit suicide at a later date. In effect, countries ask for people to make the personal choice of delayed suicide to help fight wars. If suicide was not a personal right, then countries would have no right to ask people to volunteer their lives for any purpose.

For many reasons, suicide must be a personal right. We ask people to take the risk of death when we test experimental drugs. No medical progress would be made if people were not allowed to make this decision. Freedom and the institution of democracy would not be allowed to flourish if people did not have the right to enter the military and choose a delayed suicide. Of course there is no guarantee that a soldier who volunteers his or her life is going to die, but when someone leaps from a building there is no guarantee that they will die either.

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