Should Assisted Suicide Be Legal?
A consequential decision made by one of the greatest decision makers of all time
.jpg){kind=link}
In today’s newsletter, you’ll find the following:
Thoughts on the news of famed psychologist, Daniel Kahneman, dying by assisted suicide;
A short video on celebrating the everyday moments with my son; and
My first brand collaboration on YouTube
This essay in the Saturday morning Wall Street Journal hit me like a ton of bricks. It revealed that one of the world’s greatest thinkers, Daniel Kahneman, made a final decision that ended his life. He chose to die by assisted suicide, a practice that’s legal in Switzerland under certain conditions.
Under Swiss law, assisted suicide may be provided without selfish motives. It’s legal in several European (and other Western) countries and “death with dignity” laws exist in certain U.S. states. In general, these laws require that the person seeking assistance be of sound mind and capable of administering the lethal drug themselves.
The fact Daniel Kahneman, of all people, made the decision to end his own life has perplexed me since reading the WSJ essay. I had recently finished his bestselling book, Thinking, Fast and Slow, a few weeks ago. The book had a profound impact on me and how I see the world, which is why I wrote this essay with my main takeaways.
I have to think that Kahneman put this consequential decision through his rigorous analytical process, weighing the costs and benefits, identifying biases and mental traps, and ultimately concluding that ending his life at age 90 despite relatively good health was the ideal solution.
But it still baffles me.
How could this be the ideal or best solution when there is still some life to live? When there is still potentially more to give and receive from the world? When there are many people, as detailed in the WSJ essay, who were disturbed and distraught by Kahneman’s decision.
I understand that Kahneman witnessed a lot of death in his life. He lost his wife to a brutal illness. He had lost other close friends, including his longtime research partner Amos Tversky whose work is heavily featured in Thinking, Fast and Slow.
Kahneman knew what the end could look like; something I witnessed from the death of my own father. It can be painful, traumatic, and rough.
I get why people may seek assisted suicide or some type of “death with dignity.” So much death, even under the best of circumstances, is nothing close to dignified.
But for someone like Kahneman to choose this path surprises me. Did his remaining years hold no value for him? I find that hard to believe. He was still doing work and pursuing his passions until the very end. Kahneman was walking the streets of Paris and the towns of his youth in the South of France just days before he chose to end his life.
For someone who escaped Nazi occupation in France as a Jewish boy to welcome death so actively in his old age is difficult to reconcile. It makes me think that he wasn’t taking his own psychological warnings to heart, including that “you know far less about yourself than you think you do”, when making the fateful decision.
As the WSJ essay described, Kahneman was not on his deathbed. He didn’t have a terminal illness. He had simply reached an age at 90 where he thought his time had come.
I have numerous reservations with this decision. As someone who champions personal autonomy, individual freedom, and free speech, I do not say this lightly — assisted suicide should not be legal.
While palliative sedation and other techniques to ease the pain of death should be explored and applied as medically necessary, there’s a big difference between pain management and lethal injections.
The medical profession operates on the ethos to “do no harm” to patients. Legalizing assisted suicide flips this bedrock principle on its head. It also opens the door to other forms of euthanasia and raises the question — where is the line?
Making the practice illegal avoids complicated and messy line drawing by teams of doctors and lawyers. Who’s to say that some forms of euthanasia are morally wrong, especially if pushed on vulnerable populations (disabled, economically disadvantaged, etc.), while others are morally acceptable (for people like Daniel Kahneman)?
Society should promote and value life. We should be doing everything in our power to treat people and “do no harm.”
No matter the age or health of a person, there’s still value to life. Everyone has something to give, create, share, or gain for themselves.
Daniel Kahneman had more in him. The fact he didn’t value it enough to keep living, instead opting for the irreversible endless sleep, is surprising coming from one of the foremost decision-makers the world has ever seen.
I know there is unbearable suffering in this world and that personal autonomy must be respected. But we also must consider what we value as a society.
Life? Or giving up when it starts to get difficult?
Perhaps I am too heavily influenced by my own father who never gave up; who fought for over two years with a terminal illness without complaint and always with the goal of beating it, even at the bitter end.
Life is precious. No matter who you are — old, young, healthy, sick, etc. Everyone has something to give. And even when the odds are against recovery, if there is even the slightest chance for life, we should promote hope, not death.
On a lighter note…
Celebrate the everyday. Cherish the little moments. Go out on the town and have some fun. Create memories.
It doesn’t need to be expensive or luxurious, even though I’m easily influenced by overindulgence. It just needs to be meaningful.
With that in mind, my son and I set out for Caffe Dante in New York City’s Greenwich Village a few weeks ago. And I made this video so I could always remember it. Just a weeknight eating pasta and pretending I was on Lake Como in the summer when in reality I was in the middle of Manhattan on a winter night.
But with the best of company. And that’s all that matters.
And finally… my first brand collaboration
I had my first brand collaboration on my YouTube channel this past week. A luggage manufacturer, MVST, reached out after seeing this video where I reviewed a “man bag”, asking if I would be interested in reviewing their new line of carry-on luggage.
Full disclosure — I had no idea who MVST was before they reached out. But after confirming (1) they are a real company; (2) they make premium and luxury products; and (3) others seemed to like their suitcases, I agreed to test out their new carry-on and I made the following video:
We travel pretty regularly as a family and sleek, dependable luggage is tough to come by. Especially at lower price points (below $1,000).
MVST hits those lower price points, and as you’ll see from my video, I genuinely liked their aluminum carry-on suitcase.
So I’m happy to say that if you also like it, MVST is giving 10% off for my audience if you purchase through this link (where I will also receive a small commission).
Safe travels.
Have a good rest of your weekend.
Cherish every single day.
This topic fascinates me a lot, John.
When I think about my own future with MS, the reality is complicated and deeply personal. So far, I've been fortunate to outrun most of its effects through treatment, determination and frankly, some luck. But I've also experienced the other side – two dark years where I was essentially incapacitated, unable to care for myself or contribute in the ways that define who I am.
That experience showed me that what I truly fear isn't death itself but the loss of autonomy, dignity and becoming a burden on those I love most, especially my husband. There's a difference between being cared for during a temporary illness and requiring permanent care that fundamentally changes your relationships and others' lives.
When my independence, my ability to connect meaningfully with others, my capacity to make choices – is gone, what remains isn't truly living as I define it.
Having the option of assisted suicide isn't something I discuss lightly. It's absolutely a last resort, but knowing it exists provides a strange comfort. My husband and I have had these difficult conversations, and his understanding of my wishes is one of the deepest expressions of love I've experienced.
One of the things I'm most proud of in this life is being 100% independent. That independence isn't just about physical capabilities – it's about having agency over my existence, including how it might end.
You're using philosophy and law to insert your personal anti-suicide beliefs into what is primarily someone else's private and family decision. If and when death comes for me or a family member I will have zero regard for what ethicists say or what the law in any given jurisdiction says. Their views are irrelevant if they conflict with the dying person's wishes.
No matter what you legislate, you have no power to stop people who wish to die from committing suicide. All you're doing is making it harder and more painful for them when they do so by taking away the easier choices. That's an evil act.
None of this is a pro suicide position. I think the first response of any sane individual when hearing that another person wants to commit suicide is to try to talk them out of it. But nobody should try to permanently remove this option from people who are firmly convinced they're ready to die.