...Euthanasia Euthanasia is defined by the American Medical Association as “the administration of a lethal agent by another person to a patient for the purpose of relieving the patient’s intolerable and incurable suffering” (American Medical Association 2014). Euthanasia is currently illegal in all US states with the exception of Oregon as well as all of Europe aside from the Netherlands. The two concerns typically used to justify this are that life is thought to be precious and we are obligated to prolong it, not take it, as well as the Hippocratic Oath taken by doctors to “do no harm”. Though it currently remains illegal, there is an increase of support for euthanasia to be practiced in the US. Before assessing whether or not euthanasia is morally justifiable, there are two conceptual distinctions to be made. One is the concept of voluntary vs. involuntary euthanasia, and the other is active vs. passive euthanasia. Voluntary euthanasia is chosen by the patient himself or herself, while involuntary is chosen by someone other than the patient. Performing an action that will actively end the patient’s life is defined as active euthanasia, while passive euthanasia is performed by withholding treatment and allowing the person to die naturally. This difference is the basis of James Rachels’ argument in “Active and Passive Euthanasia.” Rachels believes that there is no moral difference between “killing” (active) and “letting-die” (passive). He believes that passive euthanasia defeats...
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...One issue in this course that I have found particularly interesting is that of passive and active euthanasia. Euthanasia is ending a person’s life for their own wellbeing, e.g., a patient with a terminal illness might have a long and painful death if they were not euthanized. Some see euthanasia as the humane option in situations like this, while others say that no matter what, it would be inhumane to kill another human. The issue gets even more complex when we look at passive vs. active euthanasia. Passive euthanasia is when you “let” someone die. Taking someone off life support would be an example of passive euthanasia. While active euthanasia is often seen as “killing” someone. This can be done through lethal injection or other medication....
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...Euthanasia should be legalized Euthanasia has always been a controversial issue not only in America but Internationally. Is it moral? Ethical? And should it be legalized? Before answering any of these questions, one perhaps needs to get some straight facts about Euthanasia or “Assisted Suicide”. “Euthanasia: Euthanasia is the intentional killing by act or omission of a dependent human being for his or her alleged benefit. Voluntary euthanasia: When the person who is killed has requested to be killed. Non-voluntary: When the person who is killed made no request and gave no consent. Involuntary euthanasia: When the person who is killed made an expressed wish to the contrary. Assisted suicide: Someone provides an individual with the information, guidance, and means to take his or her own life with the intention that they will be used for this purpose. When it is a doctor who helps another person to kill themselves it is called "physician assisted suicide." Euthanasia by Action: Intentionally causing a person's death by performing an action such as by giving a lethal injection.. Euthanasia by Omission: Intentionally causing death by not providing necessary and ordinary (usual and customary) care or food and water.” (http://www.nrlc.org) Physician assisted suicide might sound horribly to a normal person with no knowledge about the practice itself. There are many little factors that must be count into consideration when such operations are performed. Voluntary vs. Involuntary...
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...Moral Issue about Euthanasia Reflection Euthanasia is defined as the practice of ending a life prematurely in order to end pain and suffering. The process is also sometimes called Mercy Killing. Euthanasia can fall into several categories. Voluntary Euthanasia is carried out with the permission of the person whose life is taken. Involuntary euthanasia is carried out without permission, such as in the case of a criminal execution. The moral and social questions surrounding these practices are the most active fields of research in Bioethics today. Many Supreme Court cases, such as Gonzales v. Oregon and Baxter vs. Montana, also surround this issue. Voluntary euthanasia is typically performed when a person is suffering from a terminal illness and is in great pain. When the patient performs this procedure with the help of a doctor, the term assisted suicide is often used. It is also legal in the state of Oregon, Washington and Montana. Passive euthanasia is carried out by terminating a medication that is keeping a patient alive or not performing a life-saving procedure. Active euthanasia involves the administration of a lethal drug or otherwise actively ending the life. These two types of procedures carry different moral and social issues. Euthanasia Controversy My opinion or point of view about euthanasia,There is a lot of controversy surrounding the issue and whether or not it should be legal. From a legal standpoint, the Encyclopedia of American Law categorizes mercy killing as...
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...Midterm Study Guide Midterm: March 6th • • • Make sure to bring a pen to class. The midterm will have 15 multiple-choice questions, and 2 short-answer questions. Make sure to read the whole question before answering. The short-answer questions have multiple parts. Make sure to fully answer every part of the question. The Midterm covers all the material discussed in class so far. What you need to know: Logic • • • You should know what the following are: proposition, argument, premise, conclusion, circular argument, conditional statement, antecedent, consequent. You should be able to give precise definitions of validity and soundness, and be able to evaluate whether an argument is valid or sound. You should be able to recognize the following forms of an argument, and know whether they are valid: Affirming the Antecedent (Modus Ponens), Denying the Consequent (Modus Tollens), Denying the Antecedent, and Affirming the Consequent. Ethics • • • • • • • You should know what the following words mean: ethics, right, wrong, permissible, obligatory, impermissible. You should know the difference between ethics and axiology, and the difference between ethics and law. You should understand: Ethical Relativism, Personal Relativism, and Cultural Relativism. o You should understand the objections to these views that we discussed in class. o You should understand and be able to assess the Cultural Differences Argument and the Provability...
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...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 life either by direct intervention (active euthanasia) or...
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...issues such as euthanasia involved things will only get even more complicated. Euthanasia, definition of death, living will decisions, and ethical issues surrounding these subjects will be discussed. End of Life Decisions No one living on this earth will live forever. It comes a point in time when we all must go. Our bodies are not made that way and they start to break down. Once deterioration happens or if a person comes into physical contact that causes the body too much trauma then death occurs. In the past twenty years four concepts of death have emerged, traditional, whole-brain, higher-brain, and personhood. Each one of these versions of death has ethical issues surrounding them and complicate important end of life decisions. Ethical issues surrounding when a person is dying is euthanasia and end of life decisions such has a person being on life support or having a feeding tube. Euthanasia is define as “The act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured individuals (as persons or domestic animals) in a relatively painless way for reasons of mercy” (n.d. Merriam-Webster). There are different types of euthanasia such as active, passive, involuntary, and voluntary. “Active euthanasia is the deliberate action of a person to end the life of a dying patient in order to prevent additional suffering. Passive euthanasia is deliberate cessation of treatment or disconnection of life support. Another delineation is voluntary vs. involuntary...
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...6th Amendment. The Court has dealt with cases either philosophically, constitutionally, or both. “ The Supreme Court is distinctly American in concept and function, 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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...EUTHANASIA- The “Right” to Die ABSTRACT Euthanasia is one of those Taboo topics that individuals try to distance themselves from due to the fact that it’s a sensitive issue. Most individuals try to take a politically correct stand without evaluating the impact it has on the aggrieved party’s life. Euthanasia in itself may seem a simple issue at the first instance, but by probing deep into the issue we are made to ponder a lot about not only its ethical aspects but also the stakes involved in exercising Euthanasia as a fundamental right of an individual. The dilemma in this issue is a lot more complicated if we were to compare it to other conventional ethical dilemmas because both the stands seem morally right, but there’s a legal perspective which opposes one school of thought and supports the other. Is an individual allowed to determine his death if survival is more of a formality? If so what is the basis of qualifying a case to be a suitable contender for euthanasia? Is the judiciary ignoring this since Euthanasia is an issue faced by a minority? SOME FAMOUS VOICES ON EUTHNASIA: 1. Mr. Ravi B Naik, former High Court Judge and Senior Advocate: (deccanherald.com) “When it is not possible for man to give life, who is he to take it away? We should leave death in the hands of God who gave life. There is no law that allows killing by force till a man dies naturally, nor should there be one. In a situation where it is ‘impossible to live’, people die naturally. When they don’t...
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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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...2 April 2014 Rhetorical Analysis: Euthanasia Particular Analysis There are three key audiences of the text for William F. May's “Rising to the Occasion of Our Death.” The first audience, in this case, would be legislative organizations or lawmakers who have researched and studied similar cases regarding euthanasia. Since May was as an ethics professor at Southern Methodist University, his tone is decidedly intellectual. An uneducated individual would find it more difficult to read his essay; for example, in declarations such as “Advocates of active euthanasia appeal to the principle of patient autonomy,” May's syntax and tone is formal, informative, and utilizes heavy technical jargon (May 662). In other words, it is authoritative, and enables the audience to view him as a credible source due to his syntactical confidence. Other organizations, lobbyists, or lawmakers who are researching evidence on euthanasia would certainly benefit from reading his expert opinion on the matter. Moreover, his desire to develop a “judicious, regulated policy” is a certain acknowledgement that he is attempting to legally call for regulations on euthanasia (May 662). The second audience that May is appealing to are conservative Christians, who are distinctively pro-life. As his article was originally published in well-circulated The Christian Century magazine, addressing this audience exposes members of May's audience who are unfamiliar with euthanasia to its technicalities by debating...
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...Euthanasia is a word coined from the Greek language, Eu meaning good or noble; Thanatos meaning death, in the seventeenth century by Francis Bacon to refer to an easy, painless, happy death. (Singer) Within euthanasia, there are two types. Active and passive. Active euthanasia occurs when a medical professional or another person deliberately does something to cause the death of a patient. Passive euthanasia occurs when a medical professional either stops doing something that is keeping a patient alive or they don’t do something necessary to keep a patient alive. Like switching off life support or disconnecting a feeding tube. A term that is commonly confused, but is similar to euthanasia, is physician assisted suicide. Although the results and reasoning’s behind each type of death is the same, they differ in the way that the death is administered. In euthanasia, the physician performs the intervention. Usually with a lethal dose of a powerful drug such as morphine or Pentobarbital. During physician assisted suicide, the drug, and means of delivery, are given to the patient by the physician. However, the patient accomplishes the act of injection. Leading to his or her own death (A General History Of Euthanasia) The first time euthanasia was reported on record was around 400BC by Suetonius, a Roman historian, while describing the death of Augustus Caesar. Although the actions of an easy, painless death have been used on hopeless patients since ancient times, these acts have been...
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...Should Physician Assisted Suicide Be Legalized? Julia Schulenburg PHI103 Informal Logic Professor Robert Paixao September 2, 2013 Should Physician Assisted Suicide be Legalized? In today’s society there are many so many controversial issues one of the biggest being Patient Assisted Suicide, or PAS. PAS is defined as: “suicide by a patient facilitated by means or information (as a drug prescription or indication of the lethal dosage) provided by a physician who is aware of how the patient intends to use such means or information.” Merriam-Webster Dictionary (n.d.). Let us not get PAS confused with Euthanasia, this is different, to be euthanized is when the doctor himself physically administers the lethal dosage into the patient causing their death. PAS is just the doctor prescribing the drugs for the patient to give to themselves to cause them to die. There are people who are in favor of allowing a doctor to prescribe a lethal dose of medication or machinery for the patient to administer to themselves to end their own life due having a terminal illness. Then there are those who greatly oppose it, some being doctors, moralists, the general public, as well as some private groups. They claim physician assisted suicide to be immoral, ethically wrong, against religious beliefs, and unnecessary with proper palliative care. While PAS is a controversial topic in modern day society, it originally stemmed from ancient civilizations, which defended the rights of citizens to...
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...articulating the ethical theories, believes on the contrary that in every moment of our existence, every action or deed that we accomplish can be described as moral or non-moral according to the ethical principles underlying our behavior. The very important consequences arising from the two general theoretical horizons concern two different perspectives on “human nature”, or what we call the essence of the human being. Starting from this horizon we will have the consequentialist and deontological dimensions related to euthanasia. The bioethical dimension in which we will discuss the issue of euthanasia involves both dimensions or horizons. The arguments against euthanasia seem to rely rather on the Kantian deontological horizon, while euthanasia pros seem to rely on the consequentialist horizon. This text is intended as an open debate between the two horizons which cannot yet be harmonized. There is at least one class of existential situations in which euthanasia is described as “desirable” in a consequentialist view and there are situations...
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...Erikson- last three stages: Intimacy vs iso: close reciprocal connection. Not self-absorb. Emerging adult to lifelong iso..Divorce or death disruption.. Generativity vs stag: care for next generation. Raising own children or mentoring. Integrity vs despair: Erikson was 70 and decided on integrity. Personal journey from a person’s entire life in connection with society is the ultimate goal. Generativity: productive stage (7th). Art, care giving, employment. Caregiving: Kinkeeper: takes responsibility for maintaining communication among family. Sandwich Generation: middle aged adults squeezed by the needs of younger and older members of the family. Intimacy: connect with others; social convoy-family, friends, strangers who move through life with a person. Protective layer of social relation. Affects relationships with siblings and spouses. Integration of death and the acceptance of death. Maslow- top to bottom: 5.Self Actualization: need to live into someone’s full potential. Aesthetic, creative, and spiritual understanding. 4. Esteem: achievement, competence, respect from others. 3. Love and belonging: need to be loved, belong and acceptance. 2. Safety: Feel safe/secure.1. Physiological: need food, drink, shelter. Mid Life Crisis: 35-50yrs. Mostly men. Reflect back and evaluate life. Radical self-examination and transformation. Levinson study. The age 40 crucible-Gail Sheehy 1976. Characteristics of Personality: (O.C.E.A.N): “The Big Five” Openness- imaginative, artistic...
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