All suicides are a matter of choice and all are self-inflicted. Anything that isn't self inflicted is murder, as is anything done "with assistance."
Deliberately inflicting physical damage on one's self or having others help you while on a stage is not merely "choosing not to live," as in a living will situation where you choose not to have others provide life support. Inflicting damage is an act of violence, not just a passive surrender to death.
Inflicting damage to one's self as a means of advocating that others do so, or advocating that others be helped to do so, is even more despicable than just offing yourself privately. You may very well put the idea into the head of a person who otherwise may not have seriously considered suicide. Of course, that's the idea, isn't it? Misery loves company.
But if you have enough will to overcome natural survival instincts and destroy yourself, then you have the ability to develop the self control needed to overcome all obstacles and find something to do or be to make your life worthwhile, if not for your own sake, then for others who do or will value you. Waste is not noble- it is selfish, and choosing death to avoid life is an act of selfishness and self-deception.
It doesn't take a functioning healthy body to be of value. It doesn't even take a healthy and functioning mind. Sometimes, it doesn't take anything on your part to be of worth but to just be (ask anyone who has ever raised a baby, babies being not very functional human beings, but loved and cherished nonetheless). It is always worthy to to endure, and to teach persistance rather than surrender. But dead, you aren't good for anything, or to anyone, not even yourself.
A violent death, particularly a self-inflicted one, inflicts more doubt and misery on others that you cannot predict or dispel and that you won't be around to help clean up. That's no good. That's not right.
Many a POW has suffered MORE than what people enduring illness suffer, and though they at times may have wished for death, few went so far as to take their own life. Many a terminally children have endured more than the average suicidal person is enduring, yet the children withstood the pain and brought light into other's lives in spite of it. There probably isn't any burn victim who didn't wish he was dead; yet once past the terrible process of debrising exposed nerve endings and the laborious and painful one one of reconditioning muscles and tendons and hardened skin, they realize they've come through hell and now life can offer them nothing more terrible to fear. No longer do they wish for death. It was their attitude and the attitude of others that helped them that made endurance possible, even when their bodies couldn't do it. And from them, we can all learn, and be strengthened in our own battles. But from the dead we learn nothing, for the dead neither learn nor teach nor give.
Unfortunately some folks listen too much to grumbling around them and assume they are a worthless burden, instead of realizing that the problem doesn't lie with their disabilities, limitations or pain, but with attitude. People only become worthless when they're dead.
During the course of my work I have seen doctors make some of the most dumb ass decisions concerning pain control possible. Things are getting a little better but not by much. When you have a patient who is totally eaten up by cancer and the doctor will not give morphine for fear the person will get addicted it is a decision that boggles the mind. My God, this person going to die! Who cares if they get addicted?That is the least of their problems. You bring up the comparison of those who have survived concentration camp. There is a major difference there. No matter how awful the situation they had one thing that could pull them through and that is hope. For a person in the end stages of a terminal illness there is no hope. When you are in constant horrible pain with no hope believe me suicide looks good. If the pain factor is addressed properly people can often find the strength to see it through to the end naturally.
Another factor besides physical pain that often makes people consider suicide is watching the suffering of their family members. Everyone is trapped in a situation that only death will free them from. I have seen wives and children have total nervous breakdowns trying to cope with the pending loss of a loved one and are just unable to come to terms with it. For the dieing person they too must carry the pain that their family and friends is experiencing. Nine times out of ten families are profoundly effected by the process. It does not make for the happy little Walton's moments where everyone makes their peace and all is forgiven and understood. It is much more complex than that. Everyone's got their stuff, everyone is suffering and the terminally ill person knows this and can change nothing. The movie and books like Tuesdays with Morrie is not the way it usually happens. Sometimes it does and it is wonderful to watch but for many it is long drawn out stupid suffering.
I have had many discussions with terminally ill people on this topic. What I always advise them is to to make suicide their lost possible option not their first. I tell them to have people outside the family tend to their physical care as much as possible so that wives and children are given a chance to come to terms with the situation. All hospice organizations offer help for the family and they should be encourage to take it. I also tell them to speak to their loved ones from the heart, to apologize for past mistakes and set things right to the best of their ability. If their doctor is not addressing their pain then find one who will. Often when all these steps are taken suicide no longer seems the only way to cope.