...with numerous unbearable diseases due to her old age and cries regularly and refuses to take her medication, for she is ready to face her death in-order to put an end to her misery. As Meggie’s guardian and caretaker, what action must you take in regards to Meggie’s continued life? Fully aware of your dog’s pain and misery, aware of the fact that she is waiting for the arrival of her death, ready to pass on to the next stage; should you be given the right to decide whether she continues to live her miserable life or to grant her wishes and put her to sleep? Should it be your decision to make? Of course not! It is Meggie’s life that is in question, and for that reason it becomes her decision, whether she chooses to end or continue living her life. Meggie’s decision to orchestrating her death by refusing medication is a parallel representation to a wide-spread argument across the world today, known as Euthanasia. While it is viewed as an unethical and demoralizing act to most people, euthanasia must become legal and recognized as a possible solution to those with terminal and catastrophic diseases within the United States of America. Euthanasia, also known as physician assisted suicide, is defined by taking deliberate action with the express intention of ending one’s life to relieve persistent and unstoppable suffering; “A quiet, painless death” (Medilexicon). There are two different types of euthanasia, known as passive and active euthanasia. Passive euthanasia refers to “A mode...
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...able to choose what they do to their own body”. The opinion of this paper is that of the second choice, one has the right to their own body and/or life. Like the movie “who’s life is it anyways?” Ken is paralyzed due to a car crash, that left him unable to care for himself and do the things that made his life worth living. If we are allowed to put our pets out of their misery, why can’t people choose to end their own misery and suffering? No doctors will be involved first hand, a judge may decide for it to be legal in ones case, it isn’t brutal or violent, its natural in most cases, and its respecting the choice of someone else. The biggest reason for legalizing Euthanasia would be that it respects the persons right to their own body. Why not just take the person off of the drugs and let them go naturally? Without pain and suffering. Everyone else doesn’t have to deal with the effects of being paralyzed but him. Let him choose what happens to him. If the doctors and society doesn’t let him go on his own terms, he may even just refuse treatment and do it on his own terms. Its not hurting anyone else; death is a natural process and inevitably it will happen. If the worry of doctors being sued or being involved; then don’t have the doctors be involved first hand. Make the patient swallow the drink that will stop their heart, or push the button that will inject them with the drug. Or just control the person’s pain while they naturally go. The doctor’s are there to save lives...
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...Pamela Bone, an American author, once said, “I’m not afraid of being dead. I’m just afraid of what you have to go through to get there”. Pamela Bone is a pro-euthanasia activist in addition to being an author. She like many others who support euthanasia ended her life by using drugs to allow her to have a peaceful, euthanasia death. Pamela was experiencing pain and prolonged suffering as a result of a brain tumor. Pamela ‘s death is quite similar to Lennie’s in Of Mice and Men. Like Pamela, Lennie was suffering greatly and was relieved of this suffering by their death. There was a plethora of hurt that lied ahead of Lennie. In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, George killing Lennie was a euthanasia act that was an attempt to protect him from...
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...“If Iona's heart were to burst and his misery to flow out, it would flood the whole world, it seems, but yet it is not seen. It has found a hiding-place in such an insignificant shell that one would not have found it with a candle by daylight....”. “Misery” is a short story about a man named Iona who is in mourning over his dead son. Throughout the story, this sledge driver tries over and over to talk to someone about his son’s death. Iona’s son tragically died a week ago and still has not told any one. Finally, at the end Iona finds comfort when he talks to his horse, which is the only one wanting to listen. “Misery” reflects the harshness of human behavior and the lack of connection and compassion towards others. It is believed that when emotions are expressed we share our pain and when we do so we relieve ourselves of carrying the entire load of agony all by ourselves. Iona well realizes this. Only if he could actually do so. There seems to be no one who would share his anguish. Within the story, Iona tries to talk to people three times about the death of his son. The first time, Iona attempts to talk with an officer. He tells the officer, “"My son... er... my son died this week, sir”. This is also the first time the readers learn why he is so unhappy Then when In his next fare, Iona drives three young men; two tall and thin and one hunchback. Iona drives them for less of what the three men should be paying him. But Iona seems to be mentally unstable to recognize what is...
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...From when Ellie and his family got kicked out of their only home. By the German Natzis and getting seperated from his mother and his little sister. Ellie and his father were sent through brutal hell itself, stripped of all their energy and nearly starved to death, through bitter blizzards and as soon as Ellie’s father lost faith in himself, he let death take him too; “No prayers were said over his tomb. No candle lit in his memory. His last word had been my name. He called out to me and I had not answered. (Wiesel 112)” So many people got taken from their families as germany started to take over. Thousands lost their families, and eventually their faith. Ellie had to hang on to the fact that he was with his father, physically, and that kept him going through most of their time in the concentration camp. On the other hand Victor Frankl, from From the Man’s Search for Meaning, he held on to his family in a more spiritual sake. “My mind still clung to the image of my wife. A thought crossed my mind: I didn't even know if she were still alive. I...
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...Difficult Choices Have Beneficial Outcomes “Euthanasia is the act of deliberately ending a person’s life to relieve suffering.” There is a debate to whether or not the killing of Lennie in the novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is considered an act of euthanasia or murder. Clearly, the killing of Lennie is considered an example of euthanasia and George putting him out of his past miseries and what is yet to come in the future. Of greatest significance is the state that Lennie is previously in before his death. Lennie was considered a danger to those around him. There is quite a list of great length of animals that he has previously killed, although he didn’t necessarily mean to do it. Just one example that showcases this is, “Lennie sat in the hay and looked at the little dead puppy that lay in front of him”...
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...and compassionate death, and has the capability to do this because it is protected as a right by the same constitutional safeguards that guarantees the rights of marriage, procreation, and the refusal or termination of life saving medical treatment. It is far less costly to medical programs and institutions to give...
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...Assisted Suicide Cornelia Fuller Mind and Machine Frank Morelli January 28th, 2012 Assisted suicide or euthanasia is a difficult way to leave this earth. If I were in Wolf’s place I think I would respond in a relativist way. I would try to see these actions from the father’s point of view. I agree with Wolf’s decision in the end, her father lived a full life and did not want to die a slow painful, torturing death. If I were ever put in the position to give advice or even assist with a suicide or euthanasia, I would weigh the outcome for the family member or friend that I am acting for. If this person were as bad off as Wolf’s father, yes I would do everything in my power to help them stay comfortable. I would want them to live long and I would probably be a bit selfish about the decision at first. If I knew it was what my loved one wished for, I think I would do anything in my power to help them get their “dying” wish. If a person is in that bad of shape and cannot eat on their own or perform most daily task, isn’t it almost like being comatose? If the life will never have any real value and they will end up in pain for the rest of their time on earth, isn’t that the same as being cruel to animals and making them suffer? Why would any loved one want to see someone they love suffer through any more pain than they have to? If the quality of life has been diminished and the real ability to do almost anything is gone, would you want to be kept alive in pain? In...
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...Throughout the novel, The Awakening, Edna Pontelier’s struggles with the discovery of her personal identity due to society’s social conduct which she had previously been blindly following. After undergoing an “awakening” to such confinements, it is highly suggested at the end of the novel that Edna committed suicide. Edna’s suicide is surrounded by a sense of ambiguity in regards to the motives influencing it, thus making it one of the more fascinating aspects of the novel. The quote is significant because it allows the reader to draw their own conclusions and interpretations, as Chopin does not outwardly express any particular point of view regarding Edna’s suicide. Therefore, the connotation of and motivation for her death is called into...
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...of the inhabitants of the land had been demoralized and the only two surviving lucky inhabitants, father and son were struggling to make it through every day. The mother of the boy had given up based on what she had seen about the land and the daily struggle that she had to undergo on keeping herself and the unborn baby. According to an analysis of the mother, she did not want the unborn baby to experience what she was already undergoing and she had to commit suicide. However, the unborn baby was saved, showing how the baby was a sign of light despite the worse situation at the land (McCarthy 96). The man and the boy have shown how they relied on each other through the story. Unlike his mother who did not want the boy to live up to the misery on the land, the father of the boy wanted the boy to live, hoping...
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...life in prison, or death penalty. Believe it or not, this scenario existed in real life. This scenario describes Physician-Assisted Suicide. Physician-Assisted Suicide is currently legal in a few states. There is currently an on going debate to extend its legality to more states and eventually the entire United States. Many people each year are diagnosed with a terminal illness. They are forced to suffer and live in pain until they eventually die naturally. For some people, this could be years, even decades of suffering. This is a long time of suffering that could be avoided. Physician-Assisted Suicide helps these people. People can be put out of their pain and misery. This is highly controversial. Some believe these doctors are murderers. Others call these doctors a saving grace. This is a practice with many ethical questions. Hopefully, after research, I will be able to answer these ethical questions. There are a few other questions that I hope to answer. On being, the states allow Physician-Assisted Suicide. Also, what is New Jersey’s stand on this practice? Lastly, what are the guidelines and requirements to be eligible? As defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Physician Assisted Suicide is...
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...Physician Assisted Suicide Physician Assisted Suicide Introduction A lot of people have very complicated medical conditions that are not reversible. Health of these people deteriorates as they head towards an imminent journey of death. They suffer a lot and live in constant pain. In the course of their suffering, these people may plead for their suffering to be ended by asking their doctors to terminate their lives. In other words, they wish for a physician assisted suicide. This makes people want to end the misery of these suffering people, and they feel that physician assisted suicide should be legalized. Therefore, a lot of people have risen to advocate for physician assisted suicide. However, physician assisted suicide should not be legalized as it is a form of killing, which puts human life to an end. Terminating the life of a person to end his/her physical suffering will only increase the number of deaths. A lot of people also feel that psychological suffering should also be included in the list. Protect Life All people in the society have a moral duty to preserve and protect lives of human beings. Therefore, people should never be allowed to assist in ending the lives of others. This is because by allowing people to end lives of others, the society will destroy the fundamental duty of valuing human life. The society also feels that people have a responsibility to make lives of suffering people worth living (De Ville, 2001). People should not end lives of the...
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...In Walt Whitman’s morbidly enticing poem, “This Compost”, the speaker begins the poem by stating his disbelief and skepticism over nature’s unwavering ability to expel life from properties riddled in death. Looking back at the context of the piece, one can see that this poem was written in a time when people inferred that places on Earth where it was common knowledge that death bodies had been buried underground, were contaminated with whatever ailments had caused the deaths in the first place and, consequently, could possibly be contracted by any living person who came in contact with the soil. Therefore, it necessarily follows that the first stanza is driven by the fear of contagious corruption from the death-infested ground. In the first stanza, Whitman’s internalization over the...
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...the ironic events that challenge us every day. The last emotion left on the face of Victor Frankenstein displayed the satisfaction that Victor had longed for. Since the murder of his loved ones by the monster, Victor had only been feeling miserable, guilty and above all, ferocious. After learning that the monster was the murderer of his youngest brother William, Victor narrated that, “no one can conceive the anguish I suffered during the remainder of the night” (99). As Victor entered the room where Henry’s body lay still, Victor recalled that moment with “[shudder] and agony” along with “anguish and recognition” (183). The murder of Victor’s wife, Elizabeth, once again left Victor in an “agony of despair” (198). All of this anger and misery haunted Victor’s emotion evermore, and ultimately drove him to...
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...her poem. The octave rhyming ABBAABBA directly pleads a loved one to remember her when she is gone. Then the following sestet rhyming CDDECE creates a shift in atmosphere, where she realizes the mortality of memory and would rather her love one be happy than mourn in the misery of her death. The fourteen lines altogether portray themes of love, fear, and death. With dark and sad undertones, the words “you” and “I” are used frequently showing that the poem is a dialogue speaking directly to a loved one. Throughout the poem she uses anaphora, such as repeating ‘remember’ at the beginning of several sentences. In the first line “Remember me when I am gone away”, she is speaking to someone in a direct form asking to be remembered when she is no longer here. Thus, the idea of separation is introduced here. At this point, we cannot tell if she is embarking on a journey, leaving a relationship behind or what calls for this separation between her and the person she is speaking to. Following, in the second line, “Gone away into the silent land”, the word ‘gone’ is used as a euphemism for death by using silent land as a metaphor for heaven. This imagery of heaven reveals the separation will be due to death, her own death, which rationalizes why she wants this person to remember her when she departs from earth to heaven. The colon at the end of the second line creates a strong pause, calling the attention of the reader to the third line, “When you can no more hold me by the hand”. She raises...
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