To live or not to live. This has been the question for many people who have a terminal illness. Many people suffer everyday with terminal illness, and they cannot do anything to improve their conditions. According to the article “Identifying Terminal Illness (TERI) Cases,” a terminal illness is when someone cannot go back to being a healthy person. The patient expects death, and any treatment is not going to do any good to the person. People who have this illness resort to an alternative called euthanasia. Euthanasia is when someone a physician or a family members assist the terminal ill to die by injecting such person with a drug or plugging out the chord that keeps the person alive. While supporters of this technique claim that euthanasia is humane and helpful, other people argue that euthanasia is morally wrong, and inhumane. Euthanasia should be legalize in the United States because it gives an alternative for people who suffer every day due to a terminal illness, but it should be the last resort a patient should take.
People who are against euthanasia claim that it is unethical and morally wrong to take someone’s life away. According to the article “Active Euthanasia Is Never Morally Justified,” euthanasia is a nice word that replaces the word murder (Doug). The author claims that people will use “terminal illness” to murder people without their consent. People that are on a vegetable state and cannot depend of themselves are force to accept the decisions of others. Euthanasia can be done to a patient if the person in charge is willing to go through the process. Since the patient cannot say or do anything, it is unsure if the person in charge is doing it for dark reasons. It is not just adults, infants can also be euthaniz...
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...ocial Security. U.S. Social Security Administration. 08 Jan. 2014. Web. 7 Apr. 2014
Marker, Rita L., and Kathi Hamlon. "Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide Should Not Be Legal." Assisted Suicide. Ed. Noël Merino. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. Current Controversies. Rpt. from "Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide: Frequently Asked Questions." Patients Rights Council, 2010. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 8 Apr. 2014.
McManaman, Doug. "Active Euthanasia Is Never Morally Justified." Assisted Suicide. Ed. Noël Merino. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. Current Controversies. Rpt. from "Euthanasia and the Sanctity of Life." Catholic Insight (Mar. 2010): 24-25. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 9 Apr. 2014.
Messerli, Joe. “Should an incurably-ill patient be able to commit physician-assisted suicide?” BalancedPolitics. BalancedPolitics.org. 07 Jan. 2012. Web. 7 Apr. 2014.
Dworkin, Gerald. " The Nature of Medicine." Euthanasia and Physician Assisted Suicide: For and Against. 1st ed. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1998.
Bernards, Neal, Ed. (1989). Euthanasia: Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints Series, Series Eds. David L. Bender and Bruno Leone. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press.
Velasquez, Manuel, Andre, Claire “Assisted Suicide A Right or Wrong.” Santa Clara university n.d. web 24 March 2012
Marker and Hamlon. “Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide: Frequently Asked Questions.” International Task Force. 2009. .
Potts, Stephen G.. "Euthanasia Should Not Be Legalized." Euthanasia: Opposing Viewpoints. Bernards, Neal. ed. San Diego. Greenhaven Press, Inc. 1989.
M., Lee and Alexander Stingl. “Assisted Suicide: An Overview.” Points of View: Assisted Suicide. Great Neck Publishing, 1 Jan. 2013. 1. Alabama Virtual Library. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 20 March 2014.
“Suicide, Euthanasia, and Physician-Assisted Suicide.” Death and Dying: End-of-Life Controversies. Sandra M. Alters. 2008 ed. Detroit: Gale, 2009. Information Plus Reference Series. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 2 Mar. 2011.
Cotton, Paul. "Medicine's Position Is Both Pivotal And Precarious In Assisted Suicide Debate." The Journal of the American Association 1 Feb. 1995: 363-64.
"Assisted Suicide: Finding Common Ground." Lois Snyder, JD; and Authur L. Caplan, PhD. Annals of Internal Medicine. March 21, 2000. v.132, n.6
This is an annotated bibliography for research on assisted suicide and how it effects the patient and the family and friends involved. I am researching whether or not assisted suicide is inhumane or dignified upon request of the patient.
As patients come closer to the end of their lives, certain organs stop performing as well as they use to. People are unable to do simple tasks like putting on clothes, going to the restroom without assistance, eat on our own, and sometimes even breathe without the help of a machine. Needing to depend on someone for everything suddenly brings feelings of helplessness much like an infant feels. It is easy to see why some patients with terminal illnesses would seek any type of relief from this hardship, even if that relief is suicide. Euthanasia or assisted suicide is where a physician would give a patient an aid in dying. “Assisted suicide is a controversial medical and ethical issue based on the question of whether, in certain situations, Medical practioners should be allowed to help patients actively determine the time and circumstances of their death” (Lee). “Arguments for and against assisted suicide (sometimes called the “right to die” debate) are complicated by the fact that they come from very many different points of view: medical issues, ethical issues, legal issues, religious issues, and social issues all play a part in shaping people’s opinions on the subject” (Lee). Euthanasia should not be legalized because it is considered murder, it goes against physicians’ Hippocratic Oath, violates the Controlled
[2] R. M. Walker, "Physician- assisted suicide: the legal slippery slope," Cancer Control : Journal of the Moffitt Cancer Center, vol. 8, pp. 25, 2001.
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.
Larson, Edward J. “Legalizing Euthanasia Would Encourage Suicide” Euthanasia- Opposing Viewpoints. Ed. Carol Wesseker. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1995. 78-83. Print.
Euthanasia is very controversial topic in the world today. Euthanasia, by definition, is the act of killing someone painlessly ,especially someone suffering from an incurable illness. Many people find euthanasia morally wrong, but others find people have control over thier own bodies and have a right to die. A solution to this problem is to have the patient consent to euthansia and have legal documentation of the consent.