Stephen Hawking is for assisted suicide. Kind of not a surprise in that I think I remember reading he’s an atheist. But in reading the article, I think Hawking is either confused about what assisted suicide is or else he’s attempting to confuse others.
Firstly, he asks, “We don’t let animals suffer, so why humans?”
Well, people aren’t animals so there’s that. And let’s be honest, it’s not really a choice between suffering completely alone and unaided or dying. Pain management has never been better. The alleviation of suffering is pretty much the goal of every sane person so he is being unnecessarily divisive and I think dishonest by pretending this is a choice between those who would seek to cease suffering and those who would keep them alive while presumably ignoring their suffering.
Secondly, and I think more crucially, he cites an example from his own life as grounds to support assisted suicide.
Hawking said he backed the right to die but only if the person involved had chosen that route.
He recalled how he was once put on a life support machine after suffering pneumonia and his wife was given the option of switching off the machine but this is not something he wanted.
But that’s completely besides the issue. Turning off a ventilator is not the same as injecting someone with poison and killing them. Hawking must know that, right?
And in the end, let’s be honest. Though Hawking talks about “safeguards” needing to be put in place, there’s all sorts of dangers to the terminally ill and disabled with assisted suicide laws. Some will inevitably be pressured into “choosing” suicide. Those seeking to reduce healthcare costs will inevitably urge this course of action on some, and it only takes a bad day or two to relent.
People in pain need support and love, they don’t need to be constantly battling health care professionals to stay alive. We’re all supposed to be on the same side here.
September 17, 2013 at 7:35 pm
Whatever the details are, one thing is certain- the focus is shifting. From what God wants to what we want. It's evident everywhere. I have examples of family suffering too. I pray for the suffering to end. But why should I mess with Gods plan. Perhaps better suffer now than in purgatory? Don't know. But recall that the physician in Michigan who started the mainstreaming of this was helping people commit suicide who were NOT suffering. Most of his suiciders were afraid of the terminal illness they were diagnosed with. So there are some dangerous issues here. One, the assumption every diagnosis is 100% correct….I can't even stop laughing as I type that. But if we permit suicide for someone who is not suffering but is afraid they might suffer. Ouch! That's a whole nother thing.
September 17, 2013 at 8:11 pm
What's crazy about this is someone who is in a similar physical condition to Hawking would be pressured into assisted suicide. Hawking is considered useful by and useful to the intellectual elite, who are always the ones who push this sort of agenda. If he were not a world-renowned physicist but just a regular guy with MND who caught pneumonia in 1985, he probably would not be alive right now. Why Hawking can't see this and would advocate for physician-assisted suicide is baffling.
September 17, 2013 at 9:47 pm
@Amy,
He probably does see it and understand it perfectly well. I assume he doesn't care. What matters is that he is useful, and so he is protected, and in his mind (I assume) he should be protected because he is valuable. But the poor retarded cripple who doesn't contribute anything useful to the secular society, well, protections need not apply.
September 18, 2013 at 2:49 am
Please notice Hawking did not want to die. One homicide and one mentally disabled person.
September 18, 2013 at 8:28 pm
Stephen Hawking suffers from ALS, a disease with such a grim outcome he definitely would be encouraged to kill himself before he had to be "assisted" to do so, if he were not who he is.
It is sad to see him advocate for such heinous killing.