...Right To DieWeek 11Ken WinklerGE217February 25, 2012Steve Ryan | This paper will cover the topic of the right to die for people who are terminally ill. The issue is physician assisted suicide and should individuals have the right to decide for themselves that they want to have their life terminated. There are no laws against a person taking their own life but a terminally ill person probably would need the help of a physician to take their life, and that it is explicitly illegal in 34 states (Euthansia.com, 2012). Christian clergy state that the laws of the church will not allow anyone to take their own life or to have help in taking their life as it is viewed in the same light as murder. Anyone who chooses physician assisted suicide will have to abandon their religion since they will not have support of their clergymen if they decide to end their life. Since they are terminally ill and not going to be able to do this by themselves, they will need a physician to help. They will have to find a physician who has abandoned the principle of ethical standards that all doctors swear to live by, the Hippocratic Oath. Most Christian and Jewish religious laws forbid any form of assisted suicide and condemn any person who does this or helps anyone with this. Physician assisted suicide is one of those issues that both sides of the argument have strong feelings for supporting their position, the right to die may not invoke fist fights but vastly different opinions exist for it in all...
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...Armenian, Greek, and Bulgarian neighborhood. Kevorkian attended the University of Michigan medical school and graduated in 1952. Kevorkian initially received his nickname, "Dr. Death," for his pioneering medical experiments in the 1950's. He photographed the eyes of dying patients in order to determine the exact time of death. As Kevorkian witnessed the suffering of terminally ill patients, he became convinced that they had a moral right to end their lives when the pain became unbearable, and that doctors should assist in this process. To that end, he designed and constructed a machine that started a harmless saline intravenous drip into the arm of a person wishing to die. When the patient was ready, he or she would press a button that would stop the flow of the harmless solution and begin a new drip of thiopental. “This chemical would put the patient into a deep sleep, then a coma. After one minute, the timer in the machine would send a lethal dose of potassium chloride into the patient's arm, stopping the heart in minutes.” The patient would die of a heart attack while in a deep sleep. The death, according to Kevorkian, would be quick, painless and easy. For a person suffering from the pain of terminal cancer or some other disease, the machine would provide what Kevorkian called a painless "assisted suicide." In June 1990, Kevorkian assisted in the first of many physician-assisted suicides. He used...
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...EUTHANSIA ESSAY To kill somebody you love because they are suffering from a disease or to let them live and suffer horribly every day? That is one of the hardest experiences somebody can ever go through. Personally I pray that I will never have to go through such a tough choice. If you kill them, you have to live with that on your conscious for the rest of your life. But, if you let them live, you have to watch them suffer and struggle every day just to live to the next day. “Cerebral palsy is a group of disorders that can involve brain and nervous system functions such as movement, learning, hearing, seeing, and thinking.” (A.D.A.M. Medical Encyclopedia). Tracy Latimer was only 12 years old when she suffered from Cerebral Palsy. She couldn’t move, hear, see, or anything. She was basically a human vegetable. Her father, Robert, was supposed to take her to get an operation done. Instead, he locked her in the car and let it run, which eventually led her to die from carbon monoxide poisoning. He was convicted of second degree murder and was given a 10 year sentence. Did Robert Latimer do the right thing? Should he be looked at as a danger to society and a murderer? Or should people look at him as somebody that saved his daughters life? Yes, Robert Latimer is unquestionably a murderer. He took away the life of an innocent 12 year old girl who did not do anything wrong in her life. She was not a threat to anybody. All she did was take up air. She couldn’t...
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...Physicians-Assisted Suicide Physician-Assisted Suicide is a medical process where a physician supplies a terminally ill patient with a prescription for one dose of lethal medication. The prescription is given to a patient upon request only if the patient intends to end his or her own life because of suffrage from a terminal illness. Today, physicians-assisted suicide is more commonly known as the Death-With-Dignity Act. Recent stories of patients who have attempted to end their own life by lethal medication have made countless headlines concerning the topic throughout many informational sources. Currently, the states of Washington, Oregon, and Vermont are the only three states that have adopted the Death-With-Dignity Act. Physician-Assisted Suicide is among many practices that aid in ending a patient’s life along with DNR’s, DNI’s, and AND’s, when life-sustaining treatments are denied. Physicians-Assisted Suicide is much more controversial than other life ending methods because it enables a patient to end her or her own life in a way that many individuals feel is immoral and unethical. The ethical issues of physicians-assisted suicide are both emotional and controversial, yet healthcare workers deal with a request for this alternative every day. Is physicians-assisted suicide the answer? The question doesn’t come by an easy answer. However, both sides of the debate, either for it or against it, provide strong, concrete points that help truly uncover where the controversy lies...
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...As an Athletic Trainer ethics play a major role. In many cases I evaluate many of the injuries sustained by my student-athletes offering varied suggestions on how we should move forward with either a Doctor Visit or in house rehabilitation. With this responsibility comes opposition from both parents and coaches as they insist I clear an athlete for play or don’t deliver the whole truth to the parents and or coach. Although not as controversial as assisted suicide it poses significant risks and eyebrow raises in the sports world. Doctors, nurses, and various medical personal have a harder role. They wager people’s lives and future and decide in some countries whether or not to permit such an act. In this essay we will explore the facts on Euthanasia: Assisted Suicide, my view, the world view and its progress. Before I begin, however, let me note what I will not try to do. I will not try to show you that Physician Assisted Suicide is a fully justifiable course of action what I will do is give you facts and statistics of this rapidly growing controversial issue.. What I will show you is the compatibility to the commitment to good end-of-life care. One of the most important public policy debates today surrounds the issues of euthanasia and assisted suicide. The outcome of that debate to whether or not it should be made available will profoundly affect family relationships, interaction between doctors and patients, and concepts of basic ethical behavior. Although not accepted widespread...
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...Physician-assisted suicide, the good death, mercy killing, dignified death. These are all names given to EUTHANSIA. But what is euthanasia? And why is it considered to be controversial? Although the definitions used in discussions of euthanasia and assisted suicide can vary, the following are based on Special Senate Committee reports on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide. Euthanasia is the deliberate act undertaken by one person with the intention of ending the life of another person in order to relieve that person’s suffering. Assisted suicide is the act of intentionally killing oneself with the assistance of another who provides the knowledge, means or both. Voluntary euthanasia occurs when the act is done in accordance with the wishes of a competent individual or a valid advance directive. Non-voluntary euthanasia occurs when the act is done without knowledge of the wishes of a competent individual or with respect to an incompetent individual. Involuntary euthanasia, which is indistinguishable from murder or manslaughter, occurs when the act is done against the wishes of a competent individual or a valid advance directive. When talking in terms of the person to die, a competent individual is capable of understanding the nature and consequences of the decision to be made and capable of communicating this decision. An incompetent individual is not capable of understanding the nature and consequences of the decision to be made, and/or is not capable of communicating the...
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...Claiming the Right to Die Can it be true that there may be no cure for terminal illnesses? It appears that many patients are diagnose with illnesses that cannot be cured but only treated. Although, treatments are effective in some way, there is absolutely no cure for that disease. Therefore, many patients with incurable illnesses have made a decision that they believe was right for them. This righteous act was known to be part of Euthanasia, which is considered being “the Right to Die”. So what is Euthanasia? In Greek language, the word “Euthanasia” eu means "good" and thanatos means "death". One meaning given to the word is "the intentional termination of life by another at the explicit request of the person who dies." Therefore, the term euthanasia practically means that the act must be initiated or agreed upon by the person who wishes to commit suicide. But as a disagreement, some people define euthanasia to include both voluntary and involuntary termination of life. In his book Unplugged: Reclaiming Our Right to Die in America, William Colby states that "euthanasia" defines multiple meanings and yet, leads to a massive confusion. For example, for today’s world, it is defined as the “intentional killing by act or omission of a dependent human being for his or her alleged benefit.” This literally means that if death is not intended, then it is not an act of euthanasia. Others would also recognize it as “mercy killing” or “physician-assisted suicide”. Now many will ask...
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...Survival is undoubtedly valuable but some time and in certain condition life becomes painful and impossible or unbearable, in that stage survilance seems, like a curse or abuse. Euthanasia – a new word for masses become common about four years back in the month of December 2004 because of Venkatesh plea for granting him right to die. Euthanasia is nothing else but a permit or license to the medical professional for ending the life of a person in question. No doubt if it will be permitted in laws, may be the biggest threat to the creature. In fact the concept is debatable; here the key question is “What should be the ingredients of law which would legalize Euthanasia?” Hence the purpose of writing this paper is to examine the questions pertaining to Euthanasia, especially in the light of traditional perspective besides legal dimensions of MTP and to suggest legal aspects of the same to make life with dignity even at the time of end. In addition the second key question may be that if it permitted weather it will be on the recommendation of the doctors or in the consent of the relative of the Patient? Keywords: Euthanasia, PAS, Suicide, Religions on Suicide Right to Die, Mercy Killing, MTP INTRODUCTION Antipathy is not a word but it is the position or it is a feeling because of which Jurisprudence has been generated. No doubt, father of Jurisprudence, Bentham, not only describe antipathy as the deciding factor of law and legislation but also as an exercise which cause a powerful influence...
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