Everyone should have the right to die
The death of Noelia Castillo Ramos has been rocking the internet for the past couple of weeks. Before her euthanasia, thousands logged on begging and praying for Ramos to change her mind.
Since her death, Ramos’s euthanasia has been criticized by many as a callous state sanctioned execution, with some in my social media feeds even claiming that the hospital pressured Ramos into death to profit off of her organs.
While I understand where the critics of Ramos’s euthanasia are coming from, I disagree. I think that Ramos was in a position in which many people would want to die and should have the right to.
Ramos’s death was a landmark case in assisted death cases, because she was diagnosed as mentally ill and her diagnosis did not impact her eligibility for euthanasia. I see Ramos’s death as more than just one person’s euthanasia. It’s a case that sets a precedent heard around the world for how and when it should be socially acceptable to end one’s life.
The right to die is a fundamental human right
I’m of the opinion that everyone on Earth should get to choose the time and manner of their own death.
I first developed this opinion when I read about two Australian scientists, Patricia and Peter Shaw, who were married to each other and who opted for euthanasia together as a sort of final romantic gesture. They took the time to get their affairs in order and to prepare their children for their deaths before ending their lives. It seemed like a really dignified way to die, and it made me consider planning my own death when I reach old age.
I live in Oregon, which is one of the states in the US where euthanasia, for some people, is legal. However, in order to qualify for a physician assisted death in Oregon, you must be diagnosed with a terminal illness that is expected to end your life within about six months.
I think that the qualification requirements for voluntary assisted death where I live should be changed to be closer to European standards, which tend to allow voluntary assisted death on a much broader grounds than in Oregon.
Many things shouldn’t disqualify euthanasia seekers
In Oregon, voluntary assisted death isn’t available to people with chronic illnesses or other permanent disabilities unless they are expected to die within the next six months. It’s also not available to people who are suffering because of mental illness, or because of some other set of life circumstances which are causing them unbearable suffering.
I don’t think that it’s the place of doctors or anybody else to tell a private individual when their suffering is so unbearable that they should be allowed to die. Once a mental health evaluation and appropriate waiting period have confirmed that someone actually does want to die, and if a waiting period is appropriate, that they have for some time, I think the decison should be left up to the individual.
Mental illness shouldn’t be a disqualifying factor because it is very capable of causing unbearable suffering, and it’s also capable of causing incapacity. Many people are mentally ill but not (always) incapacitated, and rational enough to make the decision to end their lives, especially if their prognosis is that they may eventually become too incapacitated to make that decision.
Millions of fantastic and interesting people have ended their lives via some form of euthanasia or assisted death throughout history. No one should be prevented from joining their ranks unless there is a very good reason.
Rape is horrifying
Rape is recognized under international law as a form of torture. I know from firsthand experience that this form of torture is incredibly traumatic and can permanently alter the brain.
Many rape survivors continue to suffer mental health symptoms related to their rapes for their entire lives. For some, the memory of a rape can become like a prison that they can never escape from. Unbearable suffering due to a rape or other torture should be a reason why someone can seek voluntary assisted death.
Disability is horrifying
Like rape, disability can permanently alter a person’s brain and also their manner and quality of life. Because I’m disabled, and have become more disabled later in life, I know firsthand how terrible it can be. Like rape, disability can feel like a prison that the disabled person cannot escape from. This is as true for people with mental disabilities as it is for people with physical disabilities.
Imagine being so disabled that you don’t recognize your own family members, or that you need help walking or talking. Wouldn’t you at least contemplate death in a situation like that?
Ramos consistently wanted to die
Ramos literally begged for death for years. She wanted to die so badly that she jumped from a five story building. While she suffered from depression and borderline personality disorder, these disabilities did not render her incapacitated or incoherent enough to where she was unable to advocate for the health decision that she wanted.
Imagine being raped and having your rapists not go to jail, and then attempting to kill yourself and ending up unable to walk! To me, this sounded like a nightmare from which Ramos could never wake. I might want to die in a situation like that, and I might be angry if someone tried to deny me something that I see as a fundamental human right.
I understand why Ramos’s family didn’t agree with her decision. They obviously thought that her life still had value and made an effort to tell her that in a public way. But the decision to end your own life isn’t a matter of whether or not you deserve to live based on how valuable you are to others, it’s matter of whether or not you deserve the level of compassion that is necessary to grant someone a merciful death over an unnecessarily painful life that they have consistently rejected.
Everyone should be allowed to choose death
I know that if I lived with someone who begged for death every day for years, it would be a tough wish for me to not want to grant. I hope that if I’m ever in that situation that I have the ability to do so legally and sanely.
Maybe not everyone is meant to live into old age? Maybe our lives can still be meaningful if they end when we are younger, or if they end by our own hand? I know that Ramos’s death was undeniably meaningful to me. I’ll always remember the sacrifice she made that helping to defend one of my most basic rights.
Esoteric Epistemology 