09/02/2026
This does not minimize anyone’s pain. In fact, it does the opposite. It says your pain matters so much that you deserve care, treatment, protection and people willing to stay with you through it.
Yes, suffering can be unbearable. Yes, illness, disability, loneliness and hardship can push a person to the edge. But suffering does not suddenly make a human life less valuable, and it should never become the reason the healthcare system decides death is an acceptable response.
People will say, “You don’t know what they’re going through.” They’re right. We may never fully understand another person’s pain. But compassion does not require us to agree that death is the answer. We would never tell someone in any other crisis that because their suffering is severe enough, their life is now disposable.
The answer to suffering should be better pain control, better palliative care, better mental-health support, better disability support, better housing, better social connection and a healthcare system that fights for the person in front of it.
Calling this controversial does not change the principle: hardship is not a justification for intentionally ending a human life. People in pain need us to fight harder for them, not give up on them.
