Hi,
I'm thinking about suicide, not because I suffer from a Mental Health Issue, but because I have a wide range of health issues that prevent me from actually living, working, or doing anything meaningful. A major part of having all these physical health issues is that I'm always in physical pain, and have to spend a lot of time lying in bed, as that is the only thing that helps with the pain. I take 10+ medications daily, some designed to help with the pain, but nothing really helps and most of the conditions I have are not conditions that can be cured. The only thing that would help would be if I was hooked up to a morphine drip 24/7 but that is no way to live.
I've done everything I want in my life, but now at almost 60 years of age, I know I've become a burden to my family, especially my wife. My feeling is that it's my life, and I can do whatever I please with it, and if I decide I no longer want to live I should be able to end my life without having some psychiatrist or pyschologist tell me I'm suffering from depression, which I'm not. I do suffer from anxiety but that's not the reason I want to die, the reason is that I'm in constant physical pain and I know my physical health is only going to deteriorate further in the years ahead, so I want to exit now before I become a full-time bed ridden person, unable to do anything but watch T.V. or read a book. I think I have an acceptable reason to die, and should be able to do it without being labelled depressed and have a Mental Health Service intervene to try and stop me.
If I was to go to a hospital and was diagnosed with a life threatening issue with my heart, or prostate cancer (just two of many examples) I could quite easily decline any medical intervention to save my life, and the Doctors wouldn't really mind. They might call for a psych evaluation of me, but they would find no Mental Health Issues, and presumably just say that this guy has no cognitive impairment or issue, he just doesn't want the treatment. Then I would be allowed to leave the hospital and let nature take its course. I'm not in that position, as I currently don't have any life threatening issues, only issues that cause pain and restrict my ability to move about freely. So I believe very strongly that I should be allowed to end my life without having any judgments made about me.
I have no doubt that people will say things like "What about your family? Think about the affect it will have on them" to which I will always say "What about me? Why don't people ever think about me and what I'm going through every day?" Am I expected to stay alive, and continue to endure debilitating pain, just so my family can continue to have me around? I'm sure this is going to be a difficult concept for people to get their head around, but it's my life, and I should be allowed to choose to die if that's what I want, and I shouldn't have any guilt placed upon me for making a choice which is mine to make and mine alone. Nobody else has control of my life as I'm the one who does, so if I choose to end my life, I feel that my choice should be respected and accepted unconditionally.
