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The arrangement for physician assisted suicide
Legal aspect of physician assisted suicide
Significance of physician assisted suicide
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Importance of Dr. Kevorkian case for Medical Ethics
The Dr. Kevorkian case is important for medical ethics, because it brings up the issues of physician-assisted suicide and physician-assisted death. Physician-assisted suicide is where the doctor is assisting the patient in suicide, but the patient actually performs the act. Physician-assisted death, also known as euthanasia, is when the doctor does the act to bring about the patient’s death based on the patient’s request. This brings up the limitations of beneficence. Does a doctor have the right to end a patient’s life to relieve their suffering?
We can use the principle of double effect to analyze this case. There are four criteria for an act to be ethical according to the principle of double effect (Garrett et al., 2001):
1) “The action itself must good or morally indifferent.
2) The person must intend only the good effect and not the bad effect.
3) The bad effect cannot be the means to the good effect.
4) There must be a proportionality between the good and bad effects”
Killing or assisting in suicide is not a morally indifferent act. Dr. Kevorkian says, “My intent was only to relieve their suffering, an act that inevitably killed the person.” He justified his acts, because most of his patients had Lou Gehrig’s Disease and could not feed or care for themselves (Murphy, 1999). Although only the good effect was intended, the bad effect (death) was the means to the good effect. The proportionality between the good and bad effect must be analyzed for each specific case. Dr. Kevorkian’s acts violated at least two of the principles of double effect, so they are not ethically justified.
Importance of Dr. Kevorkian case for Professional Standards
A profession involves the following elements (Garrett et al., 2001):
1) “a dedication to a particular way-of-life, supportive of a particular expertise
2) a deep involvement in activities important to the function of society
There are many legal and ethical issues when discussing the topic of physician-assisted suicide (PAS). The legal issues are those regarding numerous court cases over the past few decades, the debate over how the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution comes into play, and the legalization vs. illegalization of this practice. The 14th Amendment states, “nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” (U.S. Const. amend. XIV, §1). PAS in the past has been upheld as illegal due to the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment of the constitution, but in recent years this same 14th amendment is also part of the reasoning for legalizing PAS, “nor shall any State deprive any person of…liberty” (U.S. Const. amend. XIV, §1). The ethical issues surrounding this topic include a patient’s autonomy and dignity and if PAS should be legalized everywhere. This paper is an analysis of the PAS debate and explores these different issues using a specific case that went to the supreme courts called Washington et al. v. Glucksberg et al.
Amongst all the ethical issues stated above, the main ethical issue that would be of the utmost importance in the tobacco industry would be the relationship and obligation between the company and its consumers. In a nutshell a tobacco or cigarette selling company sells its products which according to numerous health and scientific research organizations such as ...
In the medical field, there has always been the question raised, “What is ethical?” There is a growing conflict between two important principles: autonomy and death being considered a medical treatment. Physician assisted suicide is defined as help from a medical professional,
Questioning whether it is ethically right to defend something like tobacco sounds useless since we know the health consequences that come from smoking but the question is necessary. The film Thank You For Smoking touches on the topic of right and wrong. Instinctively, we would assume that taking the side of the tobacco lobbyists would be the wrong thing to do as it would seem like we’re disregarding the health effects of it but there are a few ways to justify taking that stance on the subject. The explanation of your decisions is what determines if what you did was right.
According to West’s Encyclopedia of American Law, between 1990 and 1999, a well-known advocate for physician assisted suicide, Jack Kevorkian helped 130 patients end their lives. He began the debate on assisted suicide by assisting a man with committing suicide on national television. According to Dr. Kevorkian, “The voluntary self-elimination of individual and mortally diseased or crippled lives taken collectively can only enhance the preservation of public health and welfare” (Kevorkian). In other words, Kevor...
Smokers all over the United States in recent years have brought class-action suits against the tobacco companies. Plaintiffs argue that the tobacco companies had knowledge of the health risks that could be associated with smoking, but they chose to withhold this information from the public. Since they chose to withhold this information the companies should be responsible for the cost of their health problems. Smokers have been rather successful in this endeavor especially since it has been a scientifically proven fact that smoking causes lung cancer. In Florida alone smokers and their families were awarded 200 billion dollars (Thomas ).
There is clearly no way tobacco will never be outlawed but I believe there should be tighter restrictions on age limits throughout the world, and restrictions on the materials that are used in cigarette processing. Who is just letting cigarette companies continue to poison people and cause cancer risk? Throughout my essay I will analyze the affects of cigarette use on the society of the world and the elaborate corruption that keeps cigarette companies in business.
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.
We observe this from the very beginning in the prologue. The first five lines of the prologue aren’t about love but they are about hatred. As the prologue is in the form of a chorus and choruses generally repeat throughout the play it signifies that hate will be an eminent theme during Romeo and Juliet. There are many death and war references in the prologue which could suggest that Shakespeare is trying to introduce an important theme in the play, which is hate. Romeo and Juliet are described as “star crossed lovers and as having “death-marked love.” The image of a cross is negative and reminds us of death, as according to the Christian religion Jesus dies on a cross, also the phrase “death marked” also refers to death, these images can be linked with hate, this stresses that love and hate are undividable throughout Romeo and Juliet. The phrase “from forth the fatal loins of these two foes” links hatred with a bawdy form of love, which again emphasizes that hate and love are inseparable. The use of alliteration with the letter “f” sounds quite harsh, which again gives us a sense of hatred and because the “f” sound is repetitive it could imply that hatred will reoccur in the play. The use of stress on the words “fatal” and “foes” also underlines the importance of hate in the play. The theme of hatred is continued into Act 1 Scen...
Ultimately`, William Shakespeare shows in many different ways throughout the play, ‘Romeo and Juliet’, that love is the more powerful force than hate. The readers see how the characters continuously forgive one another, even when the conditions are tough. The friendships between specific characters display a loving bond that cannot be broken with hate. Shakespeare demonstrates that Romeo and Juliet’s love can overpower the hate of many events in the play. He shows that their love can even overpower the death of one of their own family members. Romeo and Juliet’s love brings friendship between their feuding families. This story is a true example of how love can conquer all.
As we all know, medical treatment can help save lives. But is there a medical treatment that would actually help end life? Although it's often debated upon, the procedure is still used to help the aid of a patient's death. Usually dubbed as mercy killing, euthanasia is the "practice of ending a life so as to release an individual from an incurable disease or intolerable suffering" (Encarta). My argument over this topic is that euthanasia should have strict criteria over the use of it. There are different cases of euthanasia that should be looked at and different point of views that should be considered. I will be looking into VE (Voluntary Euthanasia), which involves a request by the dying patient or that person's legal representative. These different procedures are as follows: passive or negative euthanasia, which involves not doing something to prevent death or allowing someone to die and active or positive euthanasia which involves taking deliberate action to cause a death. I have reasons to believe that passive or negative euthanasia can be a humane way of end suffering, while active or positive euthanasia is not.
The tobacco industry is a very unethical industry, due to the long term effects of tobacco on humans. The industry also does not assess the ethical and social responsibility the best way that it should. There are many factors that make the industry unethical; some of the reasons are the way the cigarette companies around the world Advertise, the way governments and cigarette companies make a huge profit from the sales of cigarettes, and the labeling health risks. I do believe however that there is something that the tobacco companies can do to better their strategy as far as their ethics go. I think that they should, always be looking for the best interest on their consumers, as well as advertise strictly on the effects that the cigarettes and what the people are getting for their money.
... it cures their parents’ old hate that is buried along with them as the feud concludes. Juliet’s wedding turns into a funeral and creates their “womb of death,” and they die of love (McKim). Their deaths become an escape from violence and society, paradoxically a new beginning.
Should a patient have the right to ask for a physician’s help to end his or her life? This question has raised great controversy for many years. The legalization of physician assisted suicide or active euthanasia is a complex issue and both sides have strong arguments. Supporters of active euthanasia often argue that active euthanasia is a good death, painless, quick, and ultimately is the patient’s choice. While it is understandable, though heart-rending, why a patient that is in severe pain and suffering that is incurable would choose euthanasia, it still does not outweigh the potential negative effects that the legalization of euthanasia may have. Active euthanasia should not be legalized because
Pythagoras was a mathematician who has influenced the math culture until this day. His studies in math are more noted than his contributions to philosophy as well as religion. Due to the fact Pythagoras lived between roughly 520-495 bc there is very little information about him. In fact his exact birthday and death date are mainly estimations based on other historical events. Whatever we know about him is information learned after his death. Most of his writings were not published so we do not have many of his personal notes. Pythagoras is popularly known for his ligating the Pythagorean theorem used in geometry.