...February 2016 Decision Made by Terminally Ill Patients What if you think that your time is up, why not end it without suffering? Why allow your siblings loved ones, and others sit around and watch you die slowly? People who are terminally ill should decide if they want to live in pain or die. There are a lot of arguments about the family wanting their love ones to live instead of die, which is selfish. The family should also understand. If a person is terminally ill and not able to take the pain anymore, then they should end their lives upon their choice. Terminally ill patients should be able to decide not to suffer, make their own decisions and die with dignity. For one it is selfish to have an ill person suffering waiting on their death day. It should only be their choice if they decide to suffer or not. If you have never suffered before, then you wouldn’t know how bad the pain really is. No matter whom they are, regardless if it’s the mother, father, sister, brother, aunt, or any other close member of the family, have to understand it’s our lives. Pain is pain there is no big or small, pain is exactly what it is. “Legalize Assisted Suicide: A debate.”(1) Discuss killing someone to suffer. It discusses the fear of the losing capacity to make the choice to die. Those are some of the reason terminally ill patients should not have to suffer. Secondly, under no circumstances a terminally ill person should decide how he/she would like to end their lives. No one should push terminally...
Words: 602 - Pages: 3
...A controversial topic in the world today is having the right to take ones own life in certain conditions of pain an suffering of unbearable pain or an untreatable illness. The proper term for this act is called Euthanasia, which translates from Greek roots as “good death” (Kastenbaum 267). Having the right to die is a powerful right that if were made legal could create many dark roads, which there would be no turning back on once entered. On the other hand having the right to die when diagnosed with an untreatable illness and given the option to an ideal death as some might put it by passing away under euthanasia. I believe that living in a free society that allows citizens the right to their own death under the right circumstances decided by that one person and their condition that is either physically or mentally daunting. Having other people dictate when this time in life occurs or not occurs to me just does not make sense. Giving the power to someone to decide what is best for them is in all that one persons decision and should not be dictated by anyone else. The right to die first entered America in 1976 in a New Jersey courtroom. Before this the act of taking one’s life by euthanasia was thought only for animals or that of a sinner. During this time in the 1970’s religion had much more of an impact with more followers and believers in the everyday lives of the American people than compared todays society (Gallup). In 1975 Karen Ann Quinlan, 21 collapsed and stopped breathing...
Words: 1989 - Pages: 8
...quality of life. Many times there is nothing a doctor can do to prevent a patient from dying if the patient has a terminal disease; all he/she can do is wait for death to arrive. This waiting time can be very painful for both the patients and the people who surround them. Not practicing euthanasia at the request of the dying person is violating a person’s rights, creating an economic burden, interfering with a doctor’s job, and increasing suffering. First of all, deciding if you want to be alive or not is a personal decision. Neither the doctors nor the government has the power to decide if you should live or not. Since it is not their life and they are not in your situation, they cannot make that kind of decision for you. It might sound like suicide, but again, that is our problem, not theirs. They give us the liberty to decide our job, our family, our religion, and even our sex preference. Why should they not give us the right to decide if we want to live or not? That should be the first right before all the ones I have mentioned. It is not logical that we can choose in all those other decisions if we cannot first choose to live or die. The photo is the "Sleeping Angel" carved from a solid block of marble located at Highgate Cemetery in Islington outside London. The Sleeping Angel is Mary Nichols who died in 1909 of diabetes and heart failure. She was the wife of Arthur Nichols. An internet search for "Sleeping Angel" and "Highgate...
Words: 942 - Pages: 4
...Euthanasia: The right to live and let die. General Purpose: Persuade Specific purpose: To persuade my audience that euthanasia should be consider and allowed in terminal illnesses cases, diseases and in special situations. Thesis statement: Euthanasia is about giving people the right to choose if they want to live or not. It also will save the expensive amount of money in medical bills, and it also stops the person from having a bad quality of life. I. INTRODUCTION A. Attention getter: Background: Euthanasia is a Greek term, which means meaning ‘good death.’ Also it is known as physician assisted suicide and mercy killing. The process of Euthanasia is considered a relatively painless and merciful way to die. There are different type of Euthanasia like non-voluntary (person is in coma, too young, is severely brain damaged) voluntary (when the person refuses medical treatment, ask for medical treatment to be stopped, refuse to eat, simple decides to die), passive (withholding of common treatments necessary for the continuance of life) or active (use of lethal substances or forces to kill the patient). B. Attention getter: Think about the idea that one day you get involved in a crash accident and you ended up in vegetative state and must spend probably the rest of your life in a hospital or you ended up quadriplegic. You cannot see, walk, you lose your independence, can barely breathe and you need a machine to keep you alive. The pain is so hard that you cannot...
Words: 1392 - Pages: 6
...Time to Die Janet Dansbury PHI 208 Ethics and Moral Reasoning Instructor: David Pinkowski April 20, 2015 While ending a human life is a permanent solution to what may be a temporary problem and is ethically unacceptable, a person suffering from long term and unbearable pain, from which there is no relief in the foreseeable future, should be permitted to choose to the right to die, because the choice to discontinue a life of misery, should be something a person is allowed to decide without it being a legal issue. A constant battle with pain does not provide a high quality of life so this choice provides an outcome that would cease the suffering of a terminally ill individual. A person who is in unbearable pain should not be forced to continue a life of misery if there is no chance of their condition improving or if they are in the final stages of a life threatening or debilitating disease for which there is no cure or comfort available. “A person who is virtually certain to die within a given amount of time and is experiencing or will experience a lot of pain before he or she dies should be able to choose an earlier, less painful death”(Mosser, 2013). A person in this position should have the right to choose to be allowed to die if they so desire. Utilitarianism denotes that an action that causes the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest amount of people would make it the correct or acceptable action. The utilitarian takes into consideration the...
Words: 1551 - Pages: 7
...Title: Euthanasia Specific purpose: To persuade my audience that euthanasia should be legalized. Thesis: Euthanasia is about giving people their rights, cuts down on medical bills, and it also stops people from suffering. I. INTRODUCTION A. Attention getter : Imagine yourself being unable to walk, unable to see, and can barely breathe let alone speak. Your life was well lived all those years before. You are in such unbearable pain that you can’t even cry. Although your family is there for your every step of the way you begin to think, could ending your life be the answer to the pain? You are in more pain than you can bear. There is no way that you could function without assistance. You think and feel as if your life has no meaning. Well in all reality this isn’t something anyone needs to imagine. This is a real situation for many, many people. These people should be able to make their own choices and have control of their own lives. B. Background information of the topic: Euthanasia is a term still new to many of us. It is a Greek term meaning ‘good death’. It means self imposed death in a relatively painless and merciful way. Euthanasia is categorized in different ways, which include voluntary, non-voluntary, or involuntary and active or passive. Euthanasia is usually used to refer to active euthanasia, and in this sense, euthanasia is usually considered to be criminal homicide, but voluntary, passive euthanasia is widely non-criminal. C. Preview...
Words: 1408 - Pages: 6
...and let die. Specific purpose : To persuade my audience that euthanasia should be legalized in Malaysia. Central idea : Euthanasia is about giving people the right to choose how they want to live and die, saves money in medical bills, and it also stops the person from having a bad quality of life. INTRODUCTION Attention getter : Imagine yourself being unable to walk, unable to see, and can barely breathe let alone speak. Your life was well lived all those years before. You are now in such unbearable pain that you can’t even cry. You can no longer complete simple tasks on your own and there is no way that you could function without assistance. You think and feel as if your life has no meaning. Although your family is there to support you, you wonder could ending your life be the answer? Well in all reality this isn’t something anyone needs to imagine. This is a real situation for many, many people. These people should be able to make their own choices and have control of their own lives. Thesis What’s life without the quality of life? Now let's take a look and examine 3 reasons why Physician Assistant suicide should be legalized. PAS is about giving people the right to choose how they want to live and die, saves money in medical bills, and it also stops the person from having a bad quality of life. Transition to body of speech : BODY A. Main-point 1: Everyone has the right to choose how they want to live and die. i...
Words: 2641 - Pages: 11
...Most people die in hospitals hooked up to machines which are trying to keep them alive and comfortable. They also have doctors and staff making a fearless effort to save their lives the best and only way they know how. The subject of assisted suicide or self-sacrifice is a very controversial conversation between people today. I support assisted suicide, or dying with dignity, as long as you are of sound mind when you make your decision. I would want my family and friends to remember me happy and healthy instead of in agonizing pain. Every human being has a fundamental right to make decisions involving their own body, including the right to decide that they no longer wish to endure the pain and suffering of a terminal illness. These are the people who are going to die in a limited amount of time, who are suffering greatly either physically, mentally or both, and who are being kept alive not by choice, but because of advanced medical technology. Life isn’t just about breathing; it’s about living. Who wants to live life being a ‘shell’ and not knowing what is going on around them? All persons have a moral right to choose what they will do with their lives as long as they do not inflict harm on others. It includes the right to end one’s life when they choose. For most people, the right to die is a right they can easily exercise. However, there are many people who want to die, but their diseases or handicapped conditions make them unable to end their lives in a dignified manner...
Words: 406 - Pages: 2
...Lakhani interviews Tony Nicklinson and tells about his fight to get a permission, to let a doctor help him die, without getting charged for murder. Tony Nicklinson thinks that this is most fundamental human right, and it’s been taken from him. He also thinks that people believe, that life is a gift given by God, and only he can decide when you should leave. To choose when and where to die, is a right that everybody should have, no matter which fate you believe in. Tony Nicklinson suffered a stroke, and is now only apple to move his eyelids. He is trying to change the laws, so any doctor that would help him die, wouldn’t get charged. Tony is using the internet to express his opinion, and 13.000 people follow him on twitter, but as he says this wouldn’t make him change his mind, and maybe he would be the first to say goodbye on twitter. In text two “Do any of us, however ill, have the right to die” the author Allison Pearson give a response to Nicklinsons internet activities and his opinions. She argues for, that doctors’ most important job is to keep the patient alive, and by giving them the right to help ill people die, we make them executioners. Pearson also believe that if ill people really want to die, then there can be other way to make their wish come true. If you are really ill, then you would easily get an infection, and if you refuse to get medicine, you would die. The author, Vicki Woods, in the third text “I would help a relative on the final journey”, uses a personal...
Words: 841 - Pages: 4
...The right to die should be a matter of personal choice. People are allowed to choose all kinds of thing in our life. Like who we spend the rest of our lives with and what kind of work we want to do. We the people believe that there is a right to life. We must accept that people have a right to dispose of that life whenever they feel the time is right. Many others believe there are people that are healthy enough to decide on suicide. For people that commit suicide, most likely have a mental disorder, or aren't mentally stable. People that are not terminally ill that commit suicide have temporary problems. Terminally ill people know that there is not a fix to there situation. They aren't in a spare of the moment though, they are ill and are going to stay ill until death. More than half of people say they disapprove of physician-assisted suicide. A strong majority say that suicide is properly acceptable for people who are in pain with no hope of getting...
Words: 994 - Pages: 4
...Euthanasia is a subject that is in great debate and one that will continue to be a topic of controversy. Is it morally wrong? Are we not respecting patients’ rights? Is it suicide? These are just a few of the arguments that are of great controversy. I believe that euthanasia should not be permissible and the only times it should be are in cases of non-voluntary euthanasia, when patients are in a Persistent Vegetative State (“PVS”), and in times of war, during combat. What is the difference in killing someone and allowing them to die? With euthanasia, we might as well kill because we’re taking part in that patient’s death. We are totally devaluing human life. In the laws of nature, all things must die. In the film Dax Case, the first thing the man who was involved in the explosion told the farmer, who was the first on the scene, was to get him a gun so he could put himself out of his misery. The entire time he was hospitalized, he wanted to end his life. Everyone he came in contact with, he asked that question. The physician would not give up on him, and in the end, he pulled through and made something of himself. Though he was impaired, he was still able to maintain a life he wouldn’t have had if they would have listened to his request. If they wouldn’t have shown compassion for his situation he would have been deceased a long time ago. It goes to show that everyone should be entitled to fight for life and not give up on themselves when times are futile. I...
Words: 1624 - Pages: 7
...it is the act of killing someone who has a painful deadly disease. In fact, euthanasia is a very controversial subject. Some people argue that it is a solution for patients who are terminally ill. However, I totally disagree with this kind of solution because there is a point of living, you live to die that's true, but you also die to live. Jack Kevorkian invented the suicide machine in 1989. Kevorkian known as Dr. Death point of view on medical humanism allows patients and family determine the moment of death in which he calls it a “Positive Death”. Many of us today wonder why do we have to live when we didn’t ask to be born? Well the truth is that you do not "have" to live. You do have a choice in that. But like any other murder, taking your own life is cruel and unjust. If euthanasia was legal then patients might give up when they are fighting against a difficult disease and also could make the wrong decision. Therefore by law, killing is illegal and Euthanasia is just supporting on killing someone therefore euthanasia should be illegal. To kill oneself, or to get somebody else to do it for you, is to disagree with God, and to deny God's rights over your live and his right to decide the length of your live and the means your live ends. In many religions euthanasia is not acceptable generally because God gave us a life and no matter how bad we think our life are, we should live our lives to the fullest. Suffering has value. People consider that dying is just one of...
Words: 607 - Pages: 3
...The Right To Die Whenever an animal is suffering, do you let it sit there in agony as each day passes? No. You take it to a vet and give it a shot to put it to sleep. Why would you let an animal endure such pain when you know you can end it easily and painlessly? What if you were that animal? What if you were in so much pain and you wanted that chance to get rid of it all? Wouldn't you want someone to help you and give you that life-changing shot? This can be referred to physician assisted suicide. Physician assisted suicide is when a physician gives a person who is terminally ill a lethal injection to hasten their death by consent of the patient. To many people, this is thought of as morally wrong. Life is beautiful and precious and you should never end it, but to those who can't even control their bodily functions anymore, there is no more life. To those who are terminally ill, to those patients who can no longer live on their own and who suffer every day, what is life to them? Life to them is waking up every morning in pain, taking medicine that is only going to help them temporarily, and watching their family members mourn at their sickness. Would you want to live that life? In this aspect, animals are treated so much better than people. It is alright to put an animal to sleep, but it isn't right to let a patient rest in peace? The main reason why patients ask for physician assisted suicide is to end the torture and the pain of their disease. Why wouldn't you want to...
Words: 1413 - Pages: 6
...should cure and not kill. According to the article “Euthanasia: Arguments Against Euthanasia”, people might think that death is better than being sick. They might think that death is the only solution to problems. People who support euthanasia say that it is done as self-defense. For example, a soldier is brutally wounded and might die if not treated immediately. Is partner decides to ask his consent for euthanasia to end his suffering. Killing for self-defense means that you kill to save another one’s life but in euthanasia, you do not save anyone’s life. Euthanasia devalues lives because it tells us that we can take our or someone’s life easily. Euthanasia is done to a person with his consent. It is the decision of that person if he wants to do it. According to the article “Arguments Against Euthanasia”, people might decide to go for euthanasia because of emotional and psychological pressures. For example, a patient is suffering because of an illness and his doctor said to him that it is better for him to die. That person might go for it because he suffers too much and his doctor said that it is better. Murder is like the involuntary euthanasia. You take someone’s life without his consent. If euthanasia was legal, murderers would say that they killed a person because of euthanasia in their defense. Doctors should try to save lives and not to end them. Even though their patients are hard to cure, they should still try and not make euthanasia an option. According to the article...
Words: 416 - Pages: 2
...Marc Vinkler E1 d. 04-12-2011 Essay - about euthanasia What happens when a patient is terminal ill and decides for euthanasia? What would you do if it was a member of your family? Many people have not done any considerations about the question. Is it because we are afraid of the thought, or because we are convinced that we would not end up in the situation? Do you think that people should have the right to decide whether they would like euthanasia or live on with an incurable illness or a paralyzed body? The word euthanasia comes from Greek and means good death. But is euthanasia a good way to die? You can answer that question with two widely different points of view. When a person has been involved in a car accident, where he got paralyzed and also suffers from a lot of pain. Most people would agree that it is best to take the medicine from the person if he or she begs to die. In that way you can say that it is a good death because the person escapes from the pain hell. But if a person makes the wrong decision because depression and ignorance it is tragic. Because in some cases you can actually have a relatively good life even though you are paralyzed. Just read the story about Vivian Berzinski who was paralyzed in 1972 when she was 17 years old. Her doctors felt she would never be able to move, never be able to talk and never be able to breathe without a respirator. But since then she armed only with the love of her family and her own fierce will, she has married...
Words: 712 - Pages: 3