SYNOPSIS:
Voluntary
death differs from irrational suicide in four ways:
Voluntary death is (1) helpful, (2) rational, (3)
well-planned, (4) admirable.
This cyber-sermon explores a new means of choosing a
voluntary death
—giving up all water
and other fluids—
which will result in a peaceful death within two weeks.
Death by dehydration is better
than other methods of choosing a voluntary death
for the following reasons.
OUTLINE:
I. A MEANS OF VOLUNTARY DEATH
THAT DISCOURAGES IRRATIONAL SUICIDE
II. A MEANS OF VOLUNTARY DEATH
THAT DOES NOT DEPEND ON DOCTORS
III. A MEANS OF VOLUNTARY DEATH
THAT DOES NOT REQUIRE ANY CHANGE OF LAW
IV. A MEANS OF VOLUNTARY DEATH
THAT ANYONE CAN USE
V. A MEANS OF VOLUNTARY DEATH
THAT IS RELATIVELY PAINLESS AND PEACEFUL
VI. A MEANS OF VOLUNTARY DEATH
THAT ENCOURAGES PARTICIPATION BY OTHERS
VOLUNTARY DEATH BY
DEHYDRATION
by James Park
I. A MEANS OF VOLUNTARY DEATH
THAT DISCOURAGES IRRATIONAL SUICIDE
Several thousand people will kill themselves in the
United States this year.
90-95% of these will be killing themselves for irrational 'reasons'.
Some will kill themselves because of failed relationships.
Some will kill themselves because they lost all their money gambling.
Some will kill themselves because they mistakenly believe they have
cancer.
Some will kill themselves in order to make other people feel guilty.
Some will kill themselves because they are overwhelmed by anxiety.
Some will kill themselves because they are deeply depressed.
Some will kill themselves because of distorted religious beliefs.
We could probably add dozens of different irrational
'reasons'
for committing suicide.
The fact that most people who are considering
irrational suicide right now
are driven by temporary problems that will resolve themselves within a
few days
should be taken into account by all advocates of the right-to-die.
Irrational suicide differs from voluntary
death in four ways:
Irrational suicide is: (1) harmful, (2) irrational, (3) capricious,
& (4) regrettable:
1. Irrational suicide is harmful to the
victim.
Self-destruction does irreparable harm to the person who commits
irrational suicide.
That person's life is over forever.
And all possibilities of realizing values and meanings are foreclosed.
Self-destructive behavior is a mysterious aspect of some human lives.
And irrational suicide is the most extreme form of self-destruction.
2. Irrational suicide is not rational.
This means that when others examine the alleged 'reasons' for death,
they usually do not agree that death would have been the best solution.
People who are not overwhelmed by the temporary problem
are able to see more constructive solutions than committing irrational
suicide.
3. Irrational suicide is usually capricious.
This means that the suicidal person is responding to a sudden new
situation.
For example, right after being divorced by his wife,
a man jumps off a bridge.
If he had been prevented from acting on the basis of his immediate loss,
he probably would be able to re-construct his life
without a spouse who has now rejected him.
4. Irrational suicide is regrettable.
This means that almost all others who knew
the person who committed irrational suicide
believe that it was an unfortunate choice.
And they all wonder what they could have done
to prevent this irrational act.
In the early years of the right-to-die movement,
the advocates of this right did not concern themselves very much
with the problem of irrational suicide.
They usually put the autonomy of the individual above
everything else,
which includes allowing people to kill themselves
even for irrational 'reasons'.
And the methods-of-death advocated by the early
right-to-die movement
could be used by persons committing irrational suicide
as easily as by people who were choosing a wise voluntary death.
Opponents of the right-to-die did not have to look very hard
to find people who had committed irrational suicide
using the beliefs and methods of the right-to-die movement.
There are literally thousands of easy ways to kill
ourselves.
But if we want to prevent irrational suicides,
we should not publicize these methods
to people who might misuse them to commit irrational suicide.
Also, the right-to-die movement should be careful to
prevent
suicidal people from appropriating the cloak of respectability and
reason
that the right-to-die movement has attempted to create for itself.
When Jim Jones led his People's Temple cult into
mass suicide,
he encourage them to "die with dignity".
He claimed that it was some kind of political act.
But these acts of irrational suicide had nothing to do
with the right-to-die or with achieving a dignified death.
If death-by-dehydration becomes a well-known means
of choosing death,
then cult leaders will not be able to trigger mass death.
Since it takes a week or two to die by not drinking any fluids,
most of the followers of Jim Jones would have rejected
his foolish suicidal plan before they were dead.
However, most acts of irrational suicide are
committed by individuals.
These also would mostly be prevented if the suicidal persons
tried to kill themselves by giving up drinking all fluids.
How does death-by-dehydration prevent irrational suicide?
It does so by lengthening
the process of dying.
Deciding for death by dehydration requires more than
one decision.
Most methods of irrational suicide require only one momentary act.
The person who desires a dignified, rational death by dehydration
must reaffirm the decision not to drink any fluids every hour
between the beginning of the process of dying
and when death finally comes one or two weeks later.
If we consider only the hours of being awake,
this means that the choice of death must be reaffirmed
more than 100 times
over this period of two weeks.
Most temporary 'reasons' for irrational suicide
will not last long enough for death-by-dehydration to be achieved.
The suicidal person who wants to die because of the
loss of love
will find that the hunger and thirst of dying by this method
is worse than the psychological pain of being rejected.
So this suicidal person will be saved from the irrational urge
by the slowness of the
process of dying
and by the fact that it is so easy to start drinking fluids again
once the grief of the moment has passed.
In most cases that might otherwise result in
irrational suicide,
the person will resume drinking water and other fluids
before any permanent damage has been inflicted on his or her body.
Other methods of attempting an irrational suicide
often do leave lasting (and sometimes permanent) damage.
But someone who is choosing a rational voluntary
death
will not be deterred from that purpose
by the fact that it takes up to two weeks to die
and that the process of dying is uncomfortable.
Voluntary death differs from irrational
suicide because it is:
(1) helpful, (2) rational, (3) well-planned, & (4) admirable.
(These four features reverse
the features of irrational suicide described above.)
1. A voluntary death is helpful
to the person who chooses this way to draw life to a close.
The patient has examined all possible pathways to death
and has decided that giving up food and water is the best path.
Perhaps all the other pathways include meaningless suffering.
Then voluntary death by dehydration
is a definite benefit to the one who chooses this pathway.
2. A voluntary death is rational.
This means that others who are close to the patient
also examine and understand all the facts, opinions, & options
that lead the patient to choose a voluntary death.
And they agree that death now
is better than death at some
later time.
3. A voluntary death is well-planned.
In contrast to the capricious act of irrational suicide,
the person who is rationally choosing a voluntary death
might be engaged in the planning process for as long as a year.
He or she will have been philosophically in favor of this choice
for years in advance.
But when the final factors tip the balance toward the choice of death,
the planning for the final months can be put into effect.
4. A voluntary death takes everyone else's feelings
into account.
And when they know all the facts and opinions,
they admire the choice for death rather than regret it.
In contrast, irrational suicides leave the family and friends in deep
sorrow,
wondering what they should have done to prevent that
self-destruction.
Voluntary deaths elicit admiration from all who know the facts.
II. A MEANS OF VOLUNTARY DEATH
THAT DOES NOT DEPEND ON DOCTORS
In the early years of the right-to-die movement,
most of the methods-of-death that were discussed
involved the active participation by doctors and/or nurses.
This was because the primary means of voluntary death
was taking lethal doses of drugs,
which were readily available to doctors and nurses.
And opponents of the right-to-die rightly objected
to such participation by medical professionals.
They said: "Doctors must not kill."
And many organizations of doctors took official stands
against any participation by doctors in chosen deaths.
However, if we choose death-by-dehydration
as our preferred means of voluntary death,
doctors need not have a central role
in the final scene of that life.
Doctors would be able to keep their purposes clear
—both
in their own minds and in their public image.
They would not be needed to help people to die.
Their role would be limited to explaining
the medical condition of the patient.
The doctors will explain various treatment options,
along with the side-effects and likely outcome of each.
Certainly pain-control measures will be provided by doctors.
And the doctor can reassure the patient and the
family
that death by dehydration is not
a terrible death.
If fluids are being provided by means of tubes,
then doctors will be involved in ordering
such artificial hydration discontinued.
But that differs sharply from writing a prescription for a lethal drug.
The patient will not die as the result of the doctor's
action.
The immediate cause of death
will be voluntary dehydration,
a course of action chosen freely and rationally by the patient,
probably in consultation with his or her family and other advisors.
Doctors who want to have nothing to do with such
deaths
can resign from the case
when the patient decides to die by dehydration.
The doctor need have nothing further to do with that patient.
And the patient (with the emotional support of others)
has full capacity to carry out the plan for death-by-dehydration
—without
any further involvement by any physician.
After death has been achieved by dehydration,
a doctor will be called upon to write the death certificate,
which will name the underlying
disease or condition
as well as the immediate cause of death: dehydration.
III. A MEANS OF VOLUNTARY DEATH
THAT DOES NOT REQUIRE ANY CHANGE OF LAW
Once again, the early years of the right-to-die
movement
spent thousands of human hours and millions of dollars
trying to modify the laws that prevented voluntary death,
—at
least prohibiting the methods
that the right-to-die movement wanted to use.
In some cases, the laws were successfully changed
so that doctors could prescribe lethal drugs, for example,
under tightly controlled circumstances.
And such efforts to change the laws to permit
the rational choice of a well-planned death should probably continue.
Even if the laws are
never changed,
the discussion should help all rational people to consider
whether they would ever choose a voluntary death
if their life-situation were to worsen to such-and-such a degree.
However, one beauty of death-by-dehydration
is that no laws need be
changed.
Everywhere in the world, drinking fluids is a free act.
And deciding not to drink
fluids is also a free act.
No laws are likely ever to be written
which will force
people to accept water
when they have decided to refuse
it.
This method of voluntary death is already
completely within the reach of every person
who knows the difference between
drinking fluids and not drinking fluids.
Even persons already in hospitals
have the complete right to order the end to all life-support systems,
including, of course, the provision of fluids by any means.
No legislators need to spend even one minute
thinking about this.
The courts will almost never to called on to make a decision.
All of us as rational, thoughtful persons
already has all the power and authority needed
to end our lives by giving up water and other fluids.
IV. A MEANS OF VOLUNTARY DEATH
THAT ANYONE CAN USE
The older methods of voluntary death
required various drugs or other kinds of equipment.
Not everyone who made a wise and compassionate
decision to end his or her life
had easy access to the recommended means.
And sometimes doctors and laws stood in the way
of making an exit from life at the time one chose.
But death-by-dehydration is a method
within the understanding and within the capacity
of any person who knows that death will result
if the body does not have enough fluids.
Anyone can choose this method of dying.
And we might prefer this method because
it shows that we reaffirmed our choice again and again
over the last two weeks or our lives.
And we realize this is a good method
because it discourages other people from committing irrational suicide.
Lives that might otherwise be meaninglessly lost to irrational suicide
will be saved because they were not encouraged to use a quick method.
If a suicidal person tries to die by dehydration,
the time required will almost force
them to rethink their decision to
die.
Approaching death very slowly
will provide plenty of opportunities
to find other ways to solve their problems than by killing themselves.
V. A MEANS OF VOLUNTARY DEATH
THAT IS RELATIVELY PAINLESS AND PEACEFUL
A painless and peaceful death has been the goal
of the right-to-die movement since voluntary death was first conceived.
Death by means of drugs was the recommended method for many years.
Drugs can certainly achieve death without pain
and without emotional distress.
But since drugs need to taken only once,
they were subject to mistakes and abuses.
Some of the deaths so achieved
were determined to be premature in retrospect.
The claim that death-by-dehydration is usually
painless and peaceful
will have to be better established when more people report such cases.
Opponents of the right-to-die will tell dire tales
of suffering.
But these should not be believed.
Some of the symptoms they describe
happen only after the
patient has become unconscious.
So they matter only to those who are observing the death.
And when everyone knows what to expect ahead of time,
the changes of a body being dehydrated should not be too alarming.
Being very thirsty is the main symptom we will
experience
if we choose this means of voluntary death.
And there are methods of alleviating this problem.
For example, there are commercial thirst-reducing aids.
The distress of having a dry mouth can be relieved
by rinsing the mouth with water, by small sips of water, & by ice
chips.
And if the death by dehydration is taking place in a hospice or other
medical facility,
then medications can be provided
that will relieve almost all of the distressing symptoms.
Seek help from the professionals who have experience
with helping people to die by means of dehydration.
With good planning, most comfort-measures can also be available at home.
After about a week without water or other fluids,
we will probably become unconscious.
We should leave clear instructions
that our decision is not
to be reversed by others
after we lose consciousness.
Our minds will shut down first,
followed by other parts of our bodies,
until our hearts and lungs finally stop working.
Then death will be declared by a doctor,
who will explain on the death certificate
the reasons for the voluntary death
as well as the fact that we choose to end our lives by voluntary
dehydration.
Once society and the medical profession
has become used to the fact that some people
are choosing to end their lived by giving up all fluids,
then some additional choices can be made,
such as the donation of organs
before they are too damaged by dehydration.
This might require some new definitions of death,
such as permanent unconsciousness,
which would then permit the body to be used
for donation and even as a living cadaver.
But such further elaboration of this method of choosing death
will have to wait until people are choosing this way of dying more
often.
VI. A MEANS OF VOLUNTARY DEATH
THAT ENCOURAGES PARTICIPATION BY OTHERS
Irrational suicides are almost always
private, secret acts of desperate persons.
But voluntary deaths by means of dehydration
can encourage maximum participation
by all who care to be part of the final days of this person.
In many cases, the timing of the death
can be coordinated with the plans of everyone who would like to be
present.
An approximate date of death
can be set well in advance.
And all the family and friends can complete their relationships
with the dying person well before that date.
Friends and relatives of the patient who have jobs
can take vacation time to participate in the final days
and the funeral or memorial service that might follow.
Someone who is tempted to commit irrational suicide
would almost never call a family meeting to discuss the best timing.
The family would do their best to prevent an irrational self-killing.
But when a rational, voluntary death is the best option,
all who care about the patient
will agree that death at this time is the best for the patient
—and
perhaps also best for everyone else.
When everyone is cooperating
in making the last days as meaningful as possible,
then this should be strong evidence to any more distant persons
that this was a genuine voluntary death,
not a premature death coerced by others who had something to gain.
When the right-to-die had to be exercised in secret,
only a few people could be informed in advance
—only
the people who could be trusted not to tell the authorities
that a freely-chosen death was being planned.
But since there are no laws about giving up fluids,
everyone can be openly involved in the decision
and in the process of bringing this life to a close.
If there are differences of opinion about the wisdom of death at this
time,
then these should be explored well in advance.
Perhaps some who think death is the wrong option
will be able to show another way out of the problems
that are leading to the decision to end this person's life.
The secrecy and deception that was necessary
in the old ways of achieving voluntary death or merciful death
need not apply to death-by-dehydration.
And this greater openness and discussion
will prevent some premature deaths from happening.
All in all, it seems that death-by-dehydration
achieves many values that were not possible
under the other methods of achieving a voluntary death.
And the few additional burdens and problems
seem tolerable given the number of benefits achieved.
What additional safeguards
should be followed
to make sure that death by dehydration is the best possible death?
Cyber-sermon
drafted 6-2-2003; revised
6-24-2003;
10-16-2003; 1-18-2004;
2-1-2005; 11-3-2005; 3-23-2007; 9-2-2007;
2-6-2008; 2-15-2008; 4-17-2008; 4-20-2008;
Here are some related cyber-sermons:
When Is A
Person?
Pre-Persons & Former Persons
.
Advance
Directives for Medical Care:
24 Important Questions to Answer
.
Fifteen
Safeguards
for Life-Ending Decisions
.
Four
Differences between Irrational Suicide and Voluntary Death
.
Four
Differences between Mercy Killing and Merciful Death .
Four Legal
Means to Choose a Voluntary Death or a Merciful Death .
Voluntary Death
by Dehydration
.
Depressed?
Don't Kill
Yourself!
.