...Law and Public Policy: Research Paper Topic Issue Statement: What are the moral, ethical, and legal implications associated with end of life care for individuals suffering from Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia? Sources: I will use a variety of articles, case law, and relevant statutes and regulations that deal specifically with end-of-life care. Sources I have already located: * Late stage and end-of-life care: Caregiving in the Final Stages of Life * http://www.helpguide.org/elder/alzheimers_disease_dementia_caring_final_stage.htm * A Christian Response to “End-of-Life” Decisions By Bert Thompson, Ph.D and Brad Harrub, Ph.D * http://www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=7&article=58 * Decision Making at the end of life: Patients with Alzheimer’s or other dementias * http://content.lib.utah.edu/cdm/ref/collection/uspace/id/3461 * Ethics Conflicts in Rural Communities: End-of-Life decision-making * Taken from the Handbook for Rural Health Care Ethics: A Practical Guide for Professionals (PDF Download) * The Euthanasia Debate: Understanding the Issues * From the Christian Research Journal * Euthanasia Arguments-Christian Research Institute * http://www.equip.org/articles/euthanasia-arguments/ * Views on Euthanasia * http://www.equip.org/articles/views-on-euthanasia/ * Active and passive euthanasia * http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/euthanasia/overview/activepassive_1...
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...Ethical Consideration of Euthanasia as an End of Life Decision Euthanasia is the act of intentionally causing the death of someone to end pain and suffering that they are experiencing. Euthanization encompasses many controversial variables that must be perceived when deciding whether or not it should be allowed and the ethics behind it. There are different aspects of euthanasia, such as active and passive methods that must be considered; where active is physically initiating death and passive is letting an individual die by removing or withholding treatment. There are also cultural aspects that affect people’s decisions and beliefs on the ethical reasoning with euthanasia. A person’s autonomy must also be considered in the decision making...
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...THE CHURCH, EUTHANASIA and ASSISTED SUICIDE Euthanasia also known as “mercy killing” and assisted suicide are worldwide controversial issues. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, the word euthanasia comes from Greek, meaning easy death (eu: easy, thanatos: death). Euthanasia means to end the life of a person who is terminally ill or suffering from severe pain, in a deliberate way. At the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) webpage, in the section Ethics guides, under the title of Forms of Euthanasia, Religions and Death? (2009), different types of euthanasia are described, such as indirect, active, passive, voluntary, involuntary and non voluntary. On the other hand, assisted suicide is usually performed with the help of a health professional; that is why; it is usually called Physician Assisted Suicide (or PAS). The main controversy is over the different opinions on whether it is the sick patient’s decision or if it is a legal, ethical or religious issue to be considered by a third party. In order to practice assisted suicide in a country where it is legal, many factors should be present, such as the moral and religious beliefs of the patient and the physician or the patient’s family and the physician, as well as the legislation of the country where it is going to be carried out. At present, in countries where euthanasia is not legalized yet, it is very difficult to obtain legal permission to practice it. As regards the ethical...
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...WORKING OUTLINE I. Introduction A. Euthanasia is defined as a “good and painless death” B. Active Euthanasia, Passive Euthanasia and Physician Assisted Suicide or Mercy Killing are the different kinds of euthanasia that most people consider to be immoral C. The reasons of people in favor of euthanasia bases on the situation of the patients 1. The patient’s inability to afford expensive medication 2. The patient requesting to end his life 3. Families who could not bear the pain of seeing their loved ones suffer D. THESIS: Among the factors that affect the decisions of people engaging in euthanasia, poverty, specifically the inability to afford medical services and medicines, is the greatest. II. The different cases of euthanasia presents the contrasting views of society A. Most physicians feel painful in maintaining their vegetative patients’ medications despite the fact of them knowing that these persons could no longer survive and even if they would survive, would not have a worthy life. B. The Philippines being a Christian country prohibits euthanasia because it sees it as a form of suicide, but gives an exception to those people who are emotionally distressed due to expensive medications. III. The depressing economic crisis and the high budget coverage of health care expenses lead states to consider the acceptance of euthanasia. A. Health care expenses for patients with terminal illnesses are currently covering the largest percentage of...
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...as Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes observed. Few other courts in the world have the same authority of constitutional interpretation and non have exercised it for as long or with much influences.” (www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/) One of the biggest delimas the court has faced is the original intent of the Constitution is in such cases as Marbury vs Madison 5 US 137 ( U.S. Supreme Court, 1803 ), and Griswold v. Connecticut 381 U.S. 479 ( U.S. Supreme Court, 1965 ), were originalist argued that courts cannot apply a general right to privacy in a politically neutral manner without protecting all sorts of illegal activities that are done in privacy, such as prostitution. In this paper I will attempt to show how the Court have dealt with the principle of Right to Privacy, active and passive euthanasia, and sanctity of life. I will also attempt to show how the court has dealt with stated principles philosophically and constitutionally. The first principle I will attempt to show how the court dealt with philosophically and constitutionally is the Right to Privacy. The U.S. Constitution contains no wording of the right to privacy. The basic fundamental of the right to privacy is implied rights. Implied or unemumerated rights by definition are rights that the courts have found to exist even though they are not expressly...
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...IssUEs Of EUThANAsIA: ARGUmENTATIvE EssAy Bilal S. H. Badr Naga Majd T. Mrayyan (1) Bilal S. H. Badr Naga., MSN, RN, Prince Sultan Cardiac Center in Qassim, Saudi Arabia (2) Majd T. Mrayyan., Prof, RN, The Hashemite University, Jordan Correspondence: Bilal S. H. Badr Naga., MSN, RN, Prince Sultan Cardiac Center in Qassim, Saudi Arabia Email: Bilal_badrnaga@yahoo.com Case scenario Abstract Euthanasia is one of the issues that has been the subject of intense debate over time. It has been a pertinent issue in human rights discourse as it also affects ethical and legal issues pertaining to patients and health care providers. This paper discusses the legal and ethical debates concerning both types of euthanasia. It focuses on both the supporter of euthanasia and the opponent of euthanasia. Several statements for the Euthanasia argument arediscussed: a merciful response that alleviates the suffering of patients which is sometimes wrongly perceived to be otherwise unrelievable; the autonomy in which the patient has the right to make his own choices; the regulation and legislation of existing practices of euthanasia to protect health care providers and patients. In this heated debate religious, political, ethical, legal and personal views are also included. Among all these, those who desperately want to end their lives because they simply cannot go on in any way, are the ones who suffer. Every individual or group has a different viewpoint regarding euthanasia. Euthanasia is considered...
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...P393 26 June 2013 Put Out to Pasture: The Problem with Euthanasia I have decided to write my paper on Euthanasia as the topic elicits all types of opinions and conversion on the matter. It is definitely a hot button topic when it comes to Ethical dilemmas, theories, principles, and how society should precede with this in application of law and legislation. I believe that allowing for Euthanasia globally and nationally will begin to further erode the very moral and ethical fiber that separates man from animal. I further support my stand with the example of abortion, and even though opinion hasn’t changed much in the 40 years since Roe vs. Wade allowed for abortion to take place, still millions of babies have been killed despite to negative opinions about it. My hypothesis on this issue is that if nationally legalized it would lead to an untold amount of elderly, handicapped, ill, poor, and lonely people vulnerable to being put to death against their wishes and before their time. The aim of this paper it too show that indeed legalizing “Euthanasia” or “Patient Assisted Suicide” would indeed lead us down the “slippery slope. This first step for me in this paper would be to talk about the theories and principles behind not being pro-euthanasia. There are a number of ethical principles that are deontological in nature, are part of the natural moral law, and relevant to the kinds of dilemmas that occur in euthanasia cases.Four of them are as follows: 1. The Principle of Autonomy...
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...April-June 2012, Vol. 34, No. 2 ISSN 0971-0973 Review Research Paper Euthanasia Revisited: The Aruna Shanbaug Verdict *Arsalaan. F. Rashid, **Balbir Kaur, ***O.P. Aggarwal Abstract Euthanasia and its procedure have long history of locking horns as a vexed issue with laws of countries across the world. Every human being of adult years and sound mind has a right to determine what shall be done with his/her own body. It is unlawful to administer treatment to an adult who is conscious and of sound mind, without his consent. In patients with Permanently Vegetative State (PVS) and no hope of improvement, the distinction between refusing life saving medical treatment (passive euthanasia) and giving lethal medication is logical, rational, and well established. It is ultimately for the Court to decide, as parens patriae, as to what is in the best interest of the patient. An erroneous decision not to terminate results in maintenance of the status quo; the possibility of subsequent developments such as advancements in medical science, the discovery of new evidence regarding the patient’s intent, changes in the law, or simply the unexpected death of the patient despite the administration of lifesustaining treatment, at least create the potential that a wrong decision will eventually be corrected or its impact mitigated. Key Words: Consent, Permanent Vegetative State, Passive Euthanasia, Parens patriae Introduction: Euthanasia is the intentional premature termination of another person’s...
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...Methodology * Objectives * Hypothesis * Research questions Chapterisation * Chapter 1:Defination of euthanasia and its types. * chapter 2:Voluntary death from religious perspective. * Chapter 3:Position of euthanasia in other countries. * Chapter 4:Arguments in favour of legalizing euthanasia. * Chapter 5:Arguments against legalizing euthanasia.Conclusionbibliography | 6781011-1611121314151718 | INTRODUCTION Part III of Indian Constitution contains a long list of fundamental rights. And one of the major fundamental rights among them is Article 21. This article 21 of our constitution deals with "Protection of Life and Personal Liberty". The Article 21 read as follows: "No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty expect according to procedure established by law." According to this article right to life means the right to lead meaningful, complete and dignified life. The object of the fundamental right under Article 21 is to prevent any restriction by the State to a person upon his personal liberty and deprivation of life except according to procedure established by law. But can The right to life be interpreted to such an extent which leads to its self destruction(right to die) ? This is the crucial point where the debate arises. When a person ends his life by his own act we call it suicide but to end life of a person by other on the request of the deceased is called mercy killing or euthanasia. It means applying such methods and means which...
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...CONTROVESY IN MINISTRY PAPER Euthanasia October 5, 2013 THESIS STATEMENT: Now is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It won't last forever. We must take it or leave it. Introduction: When I see the word euthanasia, my thoughts immediately takes me back to a program I saw on the TLC Network about co-joined siamese twins and to a gut-retching experience of my own. .The first case was about Siamese twins. These twins description: one had a full head and body while the other twin had only a head. The doctors called this head a parasite with some flesh that had a dysfunctional body. The dependent baby relied on the normal baby to sustain her life and this was taxing on the normal baby system because she was functioning for two instead on one. If nothing was done both babies would die. The dependent baby had a normal face and was always crying and her eyes were open and she also appeared, to me, to show emotions. What makes this case so sad, the parents decided to separate them even though it meant that the dependent baby will surly die. And they chose to spare the baby who had the better chances of survival. Upon separation, the dependent baby dies and the normal baby go on to live a normal life. I believe in Euthanasia under circumstances when the mercy killing of one who have no hope of surviving to save the life of the abled body if they are attached to each other or in cases when it involves the death of...
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...University of Warwick School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2010-05 LEGAL FORM AND MORAL JUDGMENT: THE PROBLEM OF EUTHANASIA Alan Norrie Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1577163 ABSTRACT In this paper, I want to consider the way in which categories of legal responsibility in the criminal law’s general part mediate and finesse broader moral issues around questions of euthanasia. I INTRODUCTION Euthanasia and its close cousin assisted dying represent extremely problematic areas for the criminal law, as the recent guidelines issue around assisted suicide testifies. The effect of these guidelines is to make no official change in the law, yet to make it clear as a matter of practice that where the law on its face has been broken, there will be no prosecution where the defendant was motivated by good moral reasons. On a legal realist vision of law, the law has changed, but on a positivistic reading it has not. What we have in fact is a rather complex and potentially troublesome juxtaposition of legal rule and administrative discretion. This balances strong social, political and moral claims in a society where there is no consensus as to the rights and wrongs of helping someone to die. In this context, the legal realist can say ‘I told you so’, and the legal positivist can cluck disapprovingly, but both miss the point, which is that the law’s messy mixing of messages in a pragmatic compromise reflects the moral impasse in a way that...
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...University Press 0521804167 - Euthanasia, Ethics and Public Policy: An Argument Against Legalisation John Keown Frontmatter More information EUTHANASIA, ETHICS AND PUBLIC POLICY An Argument against Legalisation Whether the law should permit voluntary euthanasia or physicianassisted suicide is one of the most vital questions facing all modern societies. Internationally, the main obstacle to legalisation has proved to be the objection that, even if they were morally acceptable in certain hard cases, voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide could not be effectively controlled; society would slide down a slippery slope to the killing of patients who did not make a free and informed request, or for whom palliative care would have offered an alternative. How cogent is this objection? This book provides the general reader (who need have no expertise in philosophy, law or medicine) with a lucid introduction to this central question in the debate, not least by reviewing the Dutch euthanasia experience. It will interest readers in any country, whether for or against legalisation, who wish to ensure that their opinions are better informed. john keown is Senior Lecturer in the Law and Ethics of Medicine, Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge. His previous publications include Abortion, Doctors and the Law (1988) and Euthanasia Examined (1995). © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521804167 - Euthanasia, Ethics and Public Policy:...
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...Euthanasia Debate May 24, 2010 Professor Melissa Green, M.H.A. Euthanasia Debate Every day in the field of medicine professionals are faced with an ethical decision or problem. The advancements in medicine and technology are raising questions and concerns never once thought of. Controversy over euthanasia is on the forefront of today’s health care platform. With the present change occurring with the American Heath Care Reform health care providers and society need to be informed of the options available in end of life care. This paper will present a debate about human euthanasia. Euthanasia will first be defined. Support for each side of the debate will be presented. Each side will be provided with questions from the opposing side, with the opposing teams response presented. Each side will then present a closing statement, again to support their side from the result of the debate. Euthanasia defined Euthanasia is the practice of mercifully ending a person's life to free someone from a deadly disease. The word euthanasia comes from the Greek word "good death." The term euthanasia is being used synonymously with the term Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS), although they are not one and the same. PAS generally refers to a practice in which the physician provides a patient with a lethal dose of medication, upon the patient's request, which the patient intends to use to end his or her own life (University of Washington School of Medicine, 2010). Voluntary...
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...Euthanasia: Quality Above Quantity Inin Life and Death Leanna Smith Cuyahoga Community College ENG 1010 Professor Neel July 20, 2014 Author Note This outline research paper’s final draft was prepared as part of a research project for English 1020, taught by Professor Neel. Abstract Euthanasia is commonly known as physician-assisted suicide. This is the act of a physician providing a terminally ill patient with lethal drugs and administers the drugs in a safe environment. Assisted suicide on the other hand is when the physician or pharmacist prescribes the lethal drugs for the terminally ill patient to take at a time of his or her own choosing. Assisted suicide is legal in 3 states in the United States, while euthanasia is illegal in every state. There are many arguments for and against this debate. The objections are mainly moral or ethical. There are many benefits to allowing assisted suicide in the United States, a couple of them are: less suffering for the patients, keeping the patients’ debts low, and keeping medical resources available for those with hope for more than 6 months to live. Oregon has provided the United States a good example of a state providing an opportunity for a terminally ill patient to control his or her own future. Hopefully with the first 3 states leading the way, the rest of the country will follow. Euthanasia: Quality Above Quantity in...
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... ABSTRACT Problem Statement: A conference to discuss on ethical dilemmas is thought to be a good way of airing out issues. It is unfortunate that at times a patient in our care may die no matter what we do. Profound ethical questions on end of life issues confront the medical personnel as they watch and wait helplessly. This paper touches on ethics, law, social and public policy as they affect nursing practice. Setting: This is a conference proceedings report augmented with a case study of Nelly from a local setting and compares it with two others from elsewhere which were also presented during the conference. Conference was organized by Federation of African Medical Students Associations (FAMSA), Eldoret 2011. The author was a presenter and discussant. This paper is a compilation of the ideas, inspirations and reflections of the significant sessions and also fulfills some of the recommendations resulting from the distinguished panelists. Objectives: - i) To explore ethical dilemma issues on end of life which have a heavy bearing on Nurses and other health care providers. ii) To explain euthanasia as it relates to...
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