Last week, a fan of Hell On Earth, a Florida rock band, had a near-death experience. To support the right for a person to end his or her own life, Hell On Earth accepted the plea of an unidentified person to commit suicide on stage during their concert.

The terminally ill fan was searching for a method to demonstrate the need for acceptance of physician-assisted suicides. The plan was that the suicide would be broadcast on the band’s Web site.

Fortunately, the media got hold of the story and the publicity put an end to this indecent act.

There are several different issues at hand here. Suicide is different in many ways from physician-assisted suicides and both are different from the public demonstration that almost took place on Oct. 4.

As a whole, suicide is a taboo issue in our society. Mostly because of religious beliefs, people think suicide is an unforgivable sin that will send a person straight to the fires of hell.

I don’t appreciate people forcing their religion on me and I don’t want to force my beliefs on anyone — but having known someone personally who committed suicide, I would like to think he didn’t meet this fate due to making one bad decision in his life.

It is human nature to obsess over what will happen to us when we die, but no one can be certain. I would like to believe any actions we commit that can be justified will be forgiven in the end.

Both suicide and physician-assisted suicide involve someone ending his or her life “before their time is up.” However, the effects of suicide on others are substantially different when compared to suicide when someone is enduring substantial pain or has a terminal disease.

Usually, family members are aware of the pain this person is suffering or they know for certain that this person has a limited amount of time to live.

Since this is known, family and friends won’t be taken off-guard when a person ends his or her life in this way as they would be with any other suicide.

The normal feelings of family and friends after a loved one commits suicide is to blame themselves because they wonder what signs they missed or what they could have done to help.

This isn’t the case with a terminally ill person. Their death is expected.

No one should be forced by law to endure pain. Currently Oregon is the only state that allows physician-assisted suicide. Vermont is debating whether it will be the second state to allow this procedure.

Dr. Carmer Van Buren asked the Vermont Medical Society to rethink its position. According to an American Medical News article, Van Buren “is not asking the society to come out for or against assisted suicide, he’s asking them to be neutral.” Perhaps this is the stance all states should have.

We don’t always have to label an issue as good or bad. Instead, we should accept a patient’s right to have control over their life and allow the patient to end his or her life in a peaceful manner.

After all, many of us have had pets we have put to sleep as a peaceful alternative to suffering from an injury or old age. How can we stand by as people who, for the most part, have never felt intolerable pain and take away another person’s choice to live or die in this condition?

Still, what Hell On Earth attempted to do by showcasing a suicide was the wrong way to go about changing someone’s mind on the subject. In St. Petersburg, Fla., the city council immediately “approved a law making it illegal to conduct a suicide for commercial or entertainment purposes and to host, promote and sell tickets for such an event,” according to an Edmonton Sun article.

This comes to show that behavior like Hell On Earth’s will turn people away from the intended purpose.

You can rarely win an argument by forcing something in your opponent’s face. The reason physician-assisted suicides are even considered is because it is a peaceful way to die. The staged suicide “performance” is a complete contradiction of this.

In the end, it all comes down to ethics. What is right for one person may not be the right choice for another.

When someone is no longer able to take care of themselves or has immense suffering, that person deserves the right to decide whether he or she wants to agonize day after day, however long it takes until their last breath.

Admitting defeat should not be illegal.