Is it suicide?

[alan1]

Suppose you were diagnosed with some sort of horrid disease.
Maybe it's something that is potentially curable, like some sort of cancer where treatment may cure you but is not a definite.
Maybe it's something that is incurable, but medical treatment may extend your life.

Would you consider it suicide to just accept your condition and refuse medical treatment knowing you will die in short order?

 

[random3434]

No.


It's a choice of using meds or not.

Some will say it's God's will, others may not want to go through chemo or such, some will say they want to die a natural death.

 

[alan1]

Oh, I should have added more questions.

Would you refuse medical treatment?
Why or why not?

 

[RodISHI]

Dad said after his last surgery he would not let them operate on him again. He went in for heart surgery yesterday. What you may think you would do today may not be the same as when you actually come face to face with a choice.

 

[KittenKoder]

Meh ... if the choice is a long life of pain or a short but productive one ... I'll take the short one.

 

[alan1]

Meh ... if the choice is a long life of pain or a short but productive one ... I'll take the short one.

I never said anything about productive.

 

[Phoenix]

Suppose you were diagnosed with some sort of horrid disease.
Maybe it's something that is potentially curable, like some sort of cancer where treatment may cure you but is not a definite.
Maybe it's something that is incurable, but medical treatment may extend your life.

Would you consider it suicide to just accept your condition and refuse medical treatment knowing you will die in short order?

I believe that the reality is that most of us will cling to life as long as we can. For some, they will employ any and all routes to stay alive. Others will do only so much, and then as you say, will let nature take it's course.

It would be very difficult to say right now exactly what I (personally) would do. Too many variables.

 

[alan1]

Suppose you were diagnosed with some sort of horrid disease.
Maybe it's something that is potentially curable, like some sort of cancer where treatment may cure you but is not a definite.
Maybe it's something that is incurable, but medical treatment may extend your life.

Would you consider it suicide to just accept your condition and refuse medical treatment knowing you will die in short order?

I believe that the reality is that most of us will cling to life as long as we can. For some, they will employ any and all routes to stay alive. Others will do only so much, and then as you say, will let nature take it's course.

It would be very difficult to say right now exactly what I (personally) would do. Too many variables.

I think many of the variables influence it.
For example, if one has young children, I suspect that they would fight for every minute of life to spend with them.

 

[Phoenix]

I think many of the variables influence it.
For example, if one has young children, I suspect that they would fight for every minute of life to spend with them.

Absolutely.

Young children, spouse/significant other, close immediate family, life goals - all those and many more have a direct impact on a person's desire to live and will to survive.

Any given person's belief system is another thing that would impact their decision to stay alive. Their outlook on life - optimistic, pessimistic - another big one.

 

[Terry]

I always thought if I was very ill like lets say with Cancer and I knew I had cancer before actually going to the doctor, I wouldn't go. I wouldn't tell anyone...but I rethought that recently.

 

[auditor0007]

Suppose you were diagnosed with some sort of horrid disease.
Maybe it's something that is potentially curable, like some sort of cancer where treatment may cure you but is not a definite.
Maybe it's something that is incurable, but medical treatment may extend your life.

Would you consider it suicide to just accept your condition and refuse medical treatment knowing you will die in short order?

Most anyone who has watched a loved one die from cancer will tell you absolutely not.

 

[auditor0007]

Dad said after his last surgery he would not let them operate on him again. He went in for heart surgery yesterday. What you may think you would do today may not be the same as when you actually come face to face with a choice.

This is true also. When surgery or treatment of any kind can prolong life, many will choose to continue fighting their illness for a chance at staying around a bit longer. I think this is most often true when we have a real reason to hang around, such as having family that we care about. However, most people do reach a point when they do give up. For some that is sooner than others. And many times, it really does matter who is there supporting them.

 

[JBeukema]

you die either way. Suicide entails choosing death over life and ending your own life

 

[strollingbones]

wow ..this is not the question i expected to be hit with this morning....i really dont know if i would seek treatment....esp if it was bone cancer....depends on guess on what they wanted to amputate...

oktay personal shit here....which i really dont know if i should go into...since it can be used emotionally against me....my father knew he was dying...he did not tell the family.....refused to allow either medical treatment or the family to know....i talked to my father about 30 minutes before he died..on the phone.....i had no idea....we chatted about christmas and my coming home....i was to leave the next day .....i jokingly ask what he wanted for christmas.....his reply was "nothing honey, i have all i want or need"...he died about 30 minutes later...of a massive heart attack and lung cancer....we knew he had heart problems ....he was told about the lung cancer in jan...he died in dec....

my whole point....if you refuse treatment or not..tell your family....my mother carries the guilt of going to the mall...to do some last minute shopping...he told her felt great that day and to go on ..he had a guy coming over to fix something....that was who was with him when he died.....he just exhaled and dropped to the floor...he was dead....dont fuck with your family like that....i know he just wanted to protect us....the rational grown woman says that...the pile of tissue beside says it is a wound i will always carry...never knowing i was saying good by....

as for killing onself ...no....stephen hawkin lived for 40 years with a disease that kills most in 4 to 5 years....

 

[editec]

I think about this fairly often.

It's easy to say (when it's entirely theoretical) that once your quality of life isn't what you want it to be, that you'll check out.

But my quality of life certainly isn't what it once was, now, and I'm still here.

I'm beginning to wonder if the entire quality of my life came down to growing fingernails I might be satisfied with that.

I knew a LOT of very old people when I was a kid, and they were basically happy with their lot.

Of course they were of that generation which were surrounded by their children and grandchildren and even great grandchildren.

They were taken care of, they contributed to their families, and they were revered and cherished by their families, too.

That's NOT going to be my fate, methinks.

But hey..my dog loves me.

And my fingernails still grow like crazy.

Who am I to deny my fingernails their full measure?

Who am I to deny you people the benefit of my wisdom and foolishness, too?

The jury's still out on the to be or not to be question for editec, folks.

RTG and I are a LOT more similar that we appear in ASCII, I think.

 

[alan1]

wow ..this is not the question i expected to be hit with this morning....i really dont know if i would seek treatment....esp if it was bone cancer....depends on guess on what they wanted to amputate...

oktay personal shit here....which i really dont know if i should go into...since it can be used emotionally against me....my father knew he was dying...he did not tell the family.....refused to allow either medical treatment or the family to know....i talked to my father about 30 minutes before he died..on the phone.....i had no idea....we chatted about christmas and my coming home....i was to leave the next day .....i jokingly ask what he wanted for christmas.....his reply was "nothing honey, i have all i want or need"...he died about 30 minutes later...of a massive heart attack and lung cancer....we knew he had heart problems ....he was told about the lung cancer in jan...he died in dec....

my whole point....if you refuse treatment or not..tell your family....my mother carries the guilt of going to the mall...to do some last minute shopping...he told her felt great that day and to go on ..he had a guy coming over to fix something....that was who was with him when he died.....he just exhaled and dropped to the floor...he was dead....dont fuck with your family like that....i know he just wanted to protect us....the rational grown woman says that...the pile of tissue beside says it is a wound i will always carry...never knowing i was saying good by....

as for killing onself ...no....stephen hawkin lived for 40 years with a disease that kills most in 4 to 5 years....

I'm sure that was hard on you SB.
As for killing oneself, that is different than just refusing treatment.

 

[alan1]

I always thought if I was very ill like lets say with Cancer and I knew I had cancer before actually going to the doctor, I wouldn't go. I wouldn't tell anyone...but I rethought that recently.

Which part did you rethink?
The not going to the doctor part?, The not telling people part? Or both?

 

[manu1959]

I always thought if I was very ill like lets say with Cancer and I knew I had cancer before actually going to the doctor, I wouldn't go. I wouldn't tell anyone...but I rethought that recently.

i had a friend that died of cancer ...never told anyone....

 

[alan1]

I think many of the variables influence it.
For example, if one has young children, I suspect that they would fight for every minute of life to spend with them.

Absolutely.

Young children, spouse/significant other, close immediate family, life goals - all those and many more have a direct impact on a person's desire to live and will to survive.

Any given person's belief system is another thing that would impact their decision to stay alive. Their outlook on life - optimistic, pessimistic - another big one.

So many variables to consider.
My children are grown.
I have no spouse.
I have somebody that I love deeply.
My family is close emotionally (although most are distant in the physical sense).
I still have goals and dreams.
My belief is that there is no god nor soul.
I am optimistic to the point that it sometimes annoys people.

I would refuse medical treatment for a terminal or probable terminal condition.

 

[Amanda]

I think many of the variables influence it.
For example, if one has young children, I suspect that they would fight for every minute of life to spend with them.

Absolutely.

Young children, spouse/significant other, close immediate family, life goals - all those and many more have a direct impact on a person's desire to live and will to survive.

Any given person's belief system is another thing that would impact their decision to stay alive. Their outlook on life - optimistic, pessimistic - another big one.

So many variables to consider.
My children are grown.
I have no spouse.
I have somebody that I love deeply.
My family is close emotionally (although most are distant in the physical sense).
I still have goals and dreams.
My belief is that there is no god nor soul.
I am optimistic to the point that it sometimes annoys people.

I would refuse medical treatment for a terminal or probable terminal condition.

I can't imagine letting my self just go. I'm a fighter, always have been. I've been hit so many times I can't even begin to count them and I don't let that change my focus. I always win in the end because I NEVER quit. EVER. It's a mindset, and I've got it for better or worse.