Euthanasia: No Human Life Should End by Unnatural Means
Euthanasia, the medical term for assisted suicide or mercy killing, is an issue still being debated almost a hundred years after a proposal to legalize it in Ohio. The medical community was in turmoil even before its legal proposition, unable to decide amongst themselves how to deal with the issue. The same arguments still rage today, though the public is more aware of the issue thanks to high-profile court cases, like the trial of Dr. Jack Kevorkian. Some claim that the terminally ill have a “right to die”, but no human life should end by unnatural means.
As medical technology continues to expand at an astounding rate, doctors are finding treatment for diseases and ailments that would have been untreatable a mere five years ago. The main selling point of euthanasia seems to be to put terminally ill patients out of their misery—but what happens when the medical community finds a way to cure the formerly fatal disease? If the patient is still alive, the new treatments may alleviate their sufferings entirely, but if the patient has already given up hope then they may have unwittingly sacrificed several years of their life.
Advocates of euthanasia that make comparisons of terminally ill patients to animals that are “put to sleep” when they grow old and weak insult the people they describe. Animals do not understand why their bodies no longer work correctly, can take no preventative measures in keeping their bodies healthy, and cannot share the experiences of a lifetime with others.
Suicide has always been a touchy subject for debate. One of the leading causes of death in America, over 30,000 people take their lives every year. Our society’s concern for the people ...
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..., by banning its legal use, hammering out strict guidelines as to what is and what is not considered assisted suicide, and then enforcing those guidelines to the full extent of the law. If we can do this, the argument of how to deal with euthanasia will end, at least in the United States.
Works Cited
“Let Death Be My Dominion.” The Economist. Oct 16, 1999. 353 (1999): 89-92. Proquest. Online. 19 Nov. 1999.
Daniel, Caroline. “Killing with kindness.” New Statesman. 126 (1997): 16(3). Infotrac. Online. 19 Nov. 1999
Emanuel, Ezekiel J. “Death’s Door.” The New Republic. 220 (1999): 15-16. Proquest. Online. 19 Nov. 1999.
Gillon, Raanan. “When Doctors Might Kill Their Patients.” British Medical Journal. 318 (1999): 1431-1432. Proquest. Online. 19 Nov. 1999.
“Suicide.” Clinical Reference Systems. Jul (1999): 1421. Infotrac. Online. 2 Dec. 1999.
Assisted Suicide, also known as mercy killing, occurs when a physician provides the means (drugs or other agents) by which a person can take his or her own life. This assistance is one of the most debated issues today in society followed by abortion. Physicians are frequently faced with the question of whether or not assisted suicide is ethical or immoral. Although assisted suicide is currently illegal in almost all states in America, it is still often committed. Is assisted suicide ethical? Studies have found that the majority of Americans support assisted suicide. One must weigh both sides of the argument before they can decide.
Hanser, Matthew. “Killing,Letting Die And Preventing People From Being Saved.” Utilitas 11.3 (1999): 277. Academic Search Complete. Web. 30 April 2014
Truman Capote was born Truman Streckfus Persons, in New Orleans September 30th 1924. His parents got a divorce when he was four and his mother later remarried and took on the last name of his stepfather. Capote's childhood was extremely insecure. He was handed back and forth between relatives. When Capote was a child he started to write to deal with the loneliness. At age ten, Capote made up his mind to become a professional writer. Because he knew what he wanted to do with his life, Capote shied away from formal schooling. (Breit) By his mid teenage years he was technically accomplished writer. He stopped going to formal school when he was seventeen. He received a job at the New Yorker magazine. There he was just an errand boy but was noticed because of his mannerisms. During the early stages of World War II, Capote's interests still focused on his writing. (Norden p162) In June 1945, his short story 'Miraim'; brought him a lot of attention. It l...
The “Compassionate Killers.” Newsweek. Web. The Web. The Web.
Bernards, Neal, Ed. (1989). Euthanasia: Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints Series, Series Eds. David L. Bender and Bruno Leone. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press.
Although euthanasia requests have begun to stabilize throughout the years while palliative care has improved, euthanasia will never completely disappear. This topic depends on the type of person someone is and what thethat person is enduring. Many people fear the process of dying and the dying itself. Even though there are treatments to relieve some pain throughin the process, a patient still knows death will eventually come. Some might believe it is better to end it now rather than prolonging it. Improving palliative care will not get rid of euthanasia requests, but instead, prolong the requests. A person’s suffering can only be temporarily managed. Even if a patient is on a pain relieving treatment, there might be other side effects that cause the patient to suffer, such as nausea and vomiting. Some may like the idea of temporarily removing the suffering, but others may not because of the realization of needing a treatment to temporarily make himself feel better. These treatments can be very costly and, over time, can add up to a great amount of money that a patient and his family does not have. Also, those who are on palliative care may decide later on that the wait or the side effects are not worth it anymore and eventually request euthanasia. The improvements of palliative care will only prolong the requests of
Opposing Viewpoints."Introduction to Euthanasia: Opposing Viewpoints." Euthanasia. Ed. Carrie Snyder. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2000. Opposing Viewpoints. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 18 Nov. 2011. http://ic.galegroup.com.library.collin.edu/ic/ovic/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?displayGroupName=Reference&disableHighlighting=false&prodId=OVIC&action=2&catId=&documentId=GALE%7CEJ3010134107&userGroupName=txshracd2497&jsid=af2eacb374dfea6a89c0773d16c35a50
“Michael Manning, MD, in his 1998 book Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide: Killing or Caring?, traced the history of the word euthanasia: ‘The term euthanasia.originally meant only 'good death,'but in modern society it has come to mean a death free of any anxiety and pain, often brought about through the use of medication.” It seems there has always been some confusion and questions from our society about the legal and moral questions regarding the new science of euthanasia. “Most recently, it has come to mean'mercy killing' — deliberately putting an end to someone’s life in order to spare the individual’s suffering.’” I would like to emphasize the words “to spare the individual’s suffering”.
Suicide is the eleventh most common cause of death in the United States. According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, a person takes their own life once every fourteen minutes in the United States (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention [AFSP], 2011). Still, with suicide rates so high, suicide is a taboo topic in our society. Though suicide is intended to end one person’s pain, it causes an immeasurable amount of pain and suffering to loved ones close to the deceased.
The right to assisted suicide is a significant topic that concerns people all over the United States. The debates go back and forth about whether a dying patient has the right to die with the assistance of a physician. Some are against it because of religious and moral reasons. Others are for it because of their compassion and respect for the dying. Physicians are also divided on the issue. They differ where they place the line that separates relief from dying--and killing. For many the main concern with assisted suicide lies with the competence of the terminally ill. Many terminally ill patients who are in the final stages of their lives have requested doctors to aid them in exercising active euthanasia. It is sad to realize that these people are in great agony and that to them the only hope of bringing that agony to a halt is through assisted suicide.When people see the word euthanasia, they see the meaning of the word in two different lights. Euthanasia for some carries a negative connotation; it is the same as murder. For others, however, euthanasia is the act of putting someone to death painlessly, or allowing a person suffering from an incurable and painful disease or condition to die by withholding extreme medical measures. But after studying both sides of the issue, a compassionate individual must conclude that competent terminal patients should be given the right to assisted suicide in order to end their suffering, reduce the damaging financial effects of hospital care on their families, and preserve the individual right of people to determine their own fate.
Euthanasia is a serious political, moral and ethics issues in society. People either strictly forbid or firmly favor euthanasia. Terminally ill patients have a fatal disease from which they will never recover, many will never sleep in their own bed again. Many beg health professionals to “pull the plug” or smother them with a pillow so that they do not have to bear the pain of their disease so that they will die faster. Thomas D. Sullivan and James Rachels have very different views on the permissibility of active and passive euthanasia. Sullivan believes that it is impermissible for the doctor, or anyone else to terminate the life of a patient but, that it is permissible in some cases to cease the employment of “extraordinary means” of preserving
There is a vast amount of literature available on the additional procyclicality of regulatory capital charges in Pillar 1 of Basel II. In this section, we shall briefly visit this literature and see if any conclusions can be drawn from this, before proceeding to the conclusion and mitigation of these procyclical effects. The majority of the literature, as expected, focuses primarily on the IRB approach, as this aspect of Basel II has drawn the most criticism from financial practitioners and academics alike. The greater part of this literature has found that there is an overwhelmingly substantial rise in procyclicality of minimum regulatory capital charges originating from the IRB approach. Gordy and Howells found that under the IRB approach, volatility in the capital charge, relative to the mean, is between 0.1 to 0.26 (Gordy & Howells, 2004). This follows another study by Kashyap and Stein, which shows that capital charges rose by 70-90% during the years of 1998 to 2002 dependant of the model used to calculate PD’s (Goodhart & Taylor, 2004).
Euthanasia has been an ongoing debate for many years. Everyone has an opinion on why euthanasia should or should not be allowed but, it is as simple as having the choice to die with dignity. If a patient wishes to end his or her life before a disease takes away their quality of life, then the patient should have the option of euthanasia. Although, American society considers euthanasia to be morally wrong euthanasia should be considered respecting a loved one’s wishes. To understand euthanasia, it is important to know the rights humans have at the end of life, that there are acts of passive euthanasia already in practice, and the beneficial aspects.
Ball, Howard. At Liberty to Die: The Battle for Death with Dignity in America. New York: New York University Press, 2012. Print.
“Suicide is not chosen; it happens when pain exceeds resources for coping with pain” (I-10). Ending a life is a big step in the wrong direction for most. Suicide is the killing of oneself. Suicide happens every day, and everyday a family’s life is changed. Something needs to be done to raise awareness of that startling fact. Suicide is a much bigger problem than society will admit; the causes, methods, and prevention need to be discussed more openly.