[wideawake]

In a free society, shouldn’t the decision as to whether a father’s love for his son is worth dieing for lie with the father and not with the government?

In a free society, every individual is free.

Which means that the guy who ran out of a burning house and abandoned his child should feel free to "make it better" by running back into the fire to die with the corpse of the child he left behind.

At the same time, the police officer - who is also a free individual - should feel free to follow his conscience and prevent a lunatic from committing suicide.

If the forgetful stepfather is a free man so is the cop.

[Mr. Lucky]

Yeah, except the cop is there as the agent of the government while the father was there in his role as a father. According to your hypothesis, a government agent is as free to bludgeon a private citizen as that citizen is to save his child.

If the father is wrong in trying to save his child, he pays with his life; if the government agent is wrong, the child pays with his life and the cop gets to go home at the end of his shift.

[DelFuego]

Your reply is circular. Either one is free or one is not free to make the decision. How do you know he would have died? I can just as well assume the cops/fire department were concerned about a potential lawsuit. I find your logic illogical.