On this issue my vision of a good suicide system is totally different from the current system.
The authors of the current system did not care about the suicidal and the severity of their suffering. Those who chose to engage with the modern system can only get access to drugs quickly in the community. Those who are forcibly treated in hospital can only get drug treatment quickly as well. The role psychiatric hospitals play in the suicide system is so absolutely rubbish that anyone can see how stupid it is and how heartless those involved are.
The use of imprisonment for suicide is a protocol which is as absurd as it is evil. It is the clearest example of the heartless which pervades the current suicide system. Confinement in a psychiatric ward is simply a terrible way to prevent someone from killing themselves and is designed to force acceptance of treatment.
The modern system will do anything to force suicidal people to stay alive but the only quick response to make things better are drugs. These don’t always work and if they don’t then there’s no demonstration of the sense of care which comes from knowing how severe suicide pain is. What I mean is the system doesn’t care how long someone suffers after failed drug treatment.
I base my vision on understanding the extremely severe nature of suicide pain. Rather than focus on just keeping someone alive I believe in ending the pain quickly by any means necessary (and never using force). A core principle is the rapid end of pain by fast and effective treatment, high availability of effective treatment if the first attempt fails and the guarantee of a good death. All are options governed by personal choice. For example an individual can choose to skip treatment and just choose death.
This approach is radically different to the suicide system today. The status quo places no demand of expediency in treatment nor is there a focus on getting it right at the first trial of treatment. Once treatment fails there’s no limit to the profound suffering endured by the suicidal. The means to a good death have been taken away by the efforts of those who believe that no one should kill themselves no matter how awful their suffering is or how rational a choice it is. Suicide isn’t a crime but it’s treated like one by a system which cares nothing for the pain but focuses on prolonging life no matter how awful that life is.
I can draw here from my current personal experience. I want to die but have failed. The system would do anything to keep me alive and in suffering. It would do anything to achieve these goals despite the fact that it turns my tragedy into a worse tragedy. It thinks torture is OK as do the professionals involved in my ‘care’.
Care is what the suicide system today believes it is doing. Yet care is surely something that doesn’t involve force? My decisions are discounted as if my free choice is worthless. Care also doesn’t make things worse for someone who wants to die.
True care ends the pain quickly. True care defers to my wishes. True care would stop me from ever wanting to die and would never drag out my suffering if it failed its other objectives.
The current system is like an enemy or a tyrant. It doesn’t care how bad the suffering gets. It doesn’t respect my decision to die but instead uses force and other more subtle forms of control to prolong my agony. It cares nothing for increasing my suffering and it’s attempts to reduce my suffering are not quick or effective. It chooses the option of maximum suffering for me. It would force me to endure torture. Not end it.
My enemy would cause me suffering. My friend would end it.
My enemy would make hell. My friend would prevent it or end it.
