is this suicide justified?, 85 year old man shoots himself Options

[illumineering]

An 85 year-old man committed suicide in my town last week. His wife died about 4 years ago from cancer. His daugher-in-law died 6 years ago from cancer. His son had a heart attack and died last week. His only living relatives were his only son's 2 children. They asked him to move near them so they could be closer together. They said they would build him a house near them in Philadelphia so they could take care of him.

After he buried his son, he took his dog to the kennel the next day, returned home, and shot himself.

Was this man justified in doing this? Is this an overreaction to a difficult situation that he could have accepted over time? Was he placing his grandchildren under a more difficult situation because he was feeling sorry for himself? When his granddaughter found out, she almost miscarried her baby because she was so emotional. Doesn't the bible say suicide is a sin? (He was a Christian.)

Because he didn't want to burden anyone and had lost everyone that he was close to, was his decision acceptable? Let's face it, the best years of his life were over and he has the right to decide when and how he should leave this earth. His actions should be respected.

I'm having a hard time resolving this. Although I can respect his right to decide what he wants to do with his life, I also feel that his actions were somewhat selfish.

What do you think?

[illumineering]

My intent is to examine the the circumstances surrounding the specific suicide that started this thread. The age of the man, his religious beliefs and other information were added to provide enough information to substantiate a point-of-view that supports or rejects any potential justification. While any argument can be applied to a larger group of people as a litmus test of validity, as I stated previously, my intent was to examine this specific situation.

I am interested in not only how people view the topic starter, but the methodology, if any, used to substantiate a perspective. I hoped to elicit a range of responses that drew from any source of justification.

Thanks to everyone for reading and participating in this topic. It is a difficult issue to examine as it touches the heart of core religious, spiritual and personal beliefs. Even though I hold a personal view that may be contrary to the perspective of other people, I am nontheless enlightened by the collective voice that this thread is developing.