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Is it possible for someone to experience a fate worse than death?
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This clearly depends on your personal convictions concerning the afterlife. For example, if you consider suicide a mortal sin, it is never a favourable option. Personally, I believe that life ends with death; for me, the choice is between continuing life for an indefinite time, or going to permanent sleep. A very different proposition. Considering this, it is a very strong statement to say that it is not possible for a person to experience a fate worse than death.
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Does a person have the right to consider their fate worse than death?
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This is the moral side of the issue. If I'm feeling miserable, permanently, with little or no prospect of improvement, am I allowed to compare my situation to death and consider myself worse off? This is what consumagenerica appears to be saying when arguing that it cannot be true that rape is worse than death: regardless of what your situation looks like from an objective point of view, you are morally obliged not to view it in that way, you are not allowed to consider death better than life. Whether or not this correctly represents her feelings, it does summarize the conviction of many.
This is a very respectable point of view. She has a strong argument, too: telling someone their fate is worse than death can be taken as a verdict, a condemnation. Words are powerful.
Still, I would just like to stress that it is not the only view possible. In Japan, people commit suicide out of shame; in wartime, people are proud to sacrifice themselves for their country; in our society, people commit suicide as a way to end their own misery. If we are honest with ourselves and with our moral values, we have to face the fact that suicides are rarely impulsive acts of desperation committed by someone who didn't really know what they were doing; often, they are the carefully planned consequence of a perfectly rational choice. Some people honestly believe cannot turn their fate far enough to make living their life worthwhile.
The current issue of VN, a Dutch weekly, contains an article written by Frank van Ree, a well-known psychiatrist, detailing his 40-year experience with suicidal patients and the issue of euthanasia. He says it's impossible to generalize in this matter. Every case is different; every person is different. What matters to you may not matter to me. Patients have thanked him for saving their lives; other patients have thanked him for helping them end their lives. Some patients manage to find happiness in life after long periods of depression; some patients manage to end their lives after 40 years of continuous attempts. Van Ree describes the situation in the 60s, 70s and 80s, when it was completely taboo to even discuss suicide attempts, as pure horror, where patients and the medical staff would keep each other locked in a state of desperation with no prospect of improvement. He makes it clear that the right to choose, the option to discuss suicide openly, the right (in practice, even when it's still illegal) for doctors to assist patients with an open mind, is an immense relief to all concerned. Van Ree clearly feels that in this matter, strict principles, such as "life is always better than death", are unjust.