The Way of Suicide, Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia, or Evangelium Vitae's Way of Mercy and Compassion?
There is a passage in Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel , The Idiot, in which the character, Ippolit, imposes upon a small gathering of friends in the early hours of the morning to listen to a lengthy written explanation of why he intends to kill himself. Ippolit is twenty years of age and dying of consumption. He is suffering physically, emotionally and spiritually and his life has "assumed such grotesque and humiliating forms" that he wishes to end it now. And so, Ippolit gives voice to this challenge .