Assisted suicide and academic suicide

Over the summer of 2015, The Economist ran an editorial article about the state of assisted suicide in "Western" countries.The subtitle made clear the editorial viewpoint: "Doctors should be able to help the suffering and terminally ill die when they choose" ("The Right to Die").While this publication may not necessarily represent the viewpoint of all, it does make a case that a majority of polling citizens within Western European countries, the United States, and Canada favor the right to assisted suicide in certain circumstances, namely terminal illness.In fact, The Economist avers that the assisted suicide laws that are in effect in places such as Oregon (United States) do not go far enough.Assisted suicide laws should also provide for those in mental anguish, because, "mental pain is as real as physical pain, even though it is harder for onlookers to gauge.[ . . .] Doctor-assisted death on grounds of mental suffering should therefore be allowed" ("The Right to Die").With laws along these lines, long-term physical and mental suffering, such as that experienced by Ramn Sampedro, would create a path toward assisted suicide.Yet the path toward a more accepting view of providing assisted suicide as a basic human right has been slow and is certainly not imminent everywhere.The question I have is thus: If everyone is for assisted suicide, why is it not yet a universal right?My essay for Ethics of Life: Contemporary Iberian Debates deals with the film Mar adentro, the issue of assisted suicide, and the fundamental concept of human freedom.My aim is to place the film and the contemporary debate on assisted suicide within the wider context of human liberty and democratic convention.The overwhelming consensus, as seen in The Economist, is to consider assisted suicide or the right to die a democratic right based on a notion of freedom defined as full autonomy.Death no longer precludes that right, as Enlightenment thinkers once held.As the filmic discourse suggests, we are in the midst of a major shift in how we define human life and values.Pluralism, itself a fruit of Enlightenment freedom of thought, and empiricism have both played a

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