Investigating Mercy Killing
By euthanasia is understood an action or an omission which itself or
by intention causes death, in order that all suffering may be
eliminated. Euthanasia is one of the most controversial topics in the
public's opinion. The question of euthanasia must be answered from an
ethical standpoint. Our Creator God has concluded the number of days
we are to live on this earth, He created us in his image and declared
all human life precious. Therefore we are at no liberty whatsoever to
take the life of any innocent human being no matter what conditions
they may fall under.
Once it has been decided that there are some conditions that should
make it possible to legally take a human life, then murder becomes a
slippery slope. How can taking life be justified if we do not have a
certain standard, who then has the power to determine the value of
life or the worth of a human being? If a law is put into place making
euthanasia legal would this law really be able to cover every
situation and every grey area?
Euthanasia is morally wrong whether voluntary or not, it protects the
rights of one group while discriminating against the rights of
another. The legislation of euthanasia aims to protect the rights of
the young and healthy while discriminating against vulnerable members
of our society, specifically the aged, sick and lonely. Likewise the
legislation of abortion protects the rights of the mother to have
control of her body while discriminating against her baby's right to
life. If euthanasia were to become legal world wide it would send a
message to the vulnerable people, elderly, sick, depressed or
distressed, that they can request an early death as an easy way out.
These people however should be encouraged by care and support of life
and not seek death.
Our leaders should strengthen the rights of the vulnerable in our
society, their right to be protected form the pressure to end their
own lives. Their right to live the last days of their lives with love
In 1608 the case of Captain George Kendall became the first recorder Capital Punishment case in the colonies. Capital punishment has been a very controversial topic since the beginning of the 13 colonies. Capital Punishment is defined as the legally authorized killing of a subject as punishment for committing a crime, mostly involving a homicide. In the first couple of years that Capital Punishment was first used, the subject would be hung from a tree in a public viewing, but as laws changed it became a more private practice. Many people have issues with Capital punishment, while some people believe it is just. Lawyers have fought for many years for what they believe to be the injustice and immoral practice of killing a human being,
Following the collapse of the I-35 Bridge, other bridges in the country, with similar construction designs, were scrutinized. According to federal statistics, more than 70,000 of the 607,363 or roughly 12 percent of the bridges in the United States are classified as “structurally deficient.”
According to Suspension bridges: Concepts and various innovative techniques of structural evaluation, “During the past 200 years, suspension bridges have been at the forefront in all aspects of structural engineering” (“Suspension”). This statement shows that suspension bridges have been used for over 200 years, and that people are still using them today because they are structurally better bridges. This paper shows four arguments on the advantages of suspension bridges, and why you should use one when building a bridge. When deciding on building a suspension bridge, it has many advantages such as; its lightness, ability to span over a long distance, easy construction, cost effective, easy to maintain, less risk
In Harper Lee’s fictional novel To Kill A Mockingbird, an African American field hand is falsely accused of raping a white women. Set in the 1930’s in the small town of Monroeville Alabama, Addicus Finch an even handed white attorney tries to shed a light on the injustice of this innocent black man’s conviction. Atticus feels that the justice system should be color blind, and he defends Tom as an innocent man, not a man of color.
Compare with other types of bridges, suspension bridge can span the longest distance without using lots of material. However, if the issue of stiffness was not fully cosidered, vibration would be occurred on the bridge deck under high wind. A few week after the Tacoma Narrow Bridge was operated, the bridge start oscillation and its oscillation kept increasing day by day. Therefore engineers tried to build more cable between the bridge, but it is still unsuccessful. After four months the Tacoma Narrows Bridge was build, the bridgre which normally vibrated in a vertiacal motion, began to oscillate with the opposite side out of phase (torsional model), under the wind of 68 km/h. Due to the extremely violent oscillation, the failure bagan at the mid-...
‘“Was it hard? I hope she didn't die hard.’ Sethe shook her head. 'Soft as cream. Being alive was the hard part’” (Morrison 8). Paul D questions the absence of Baby Suggs as he and Sethe sit on the front porch of 124. In the early pages of Toni Morrison’s book, Beloved, the theme of mercy is immediately present and stressed. The characters of Beloved live with the traumatic effects of living through slavery, and the value of life terrorizes their subconscious. The epicenter of Morrison’s book is Sethe killing her daughter out of love and mercy. Mercy is a powerful motive that drives human instinct, especially that of a mother’s psyche. Exploring this concept, Sethe’s actions were extreme, but not unique. They were actually explainable and even defendable.
The intended audience was to target the Humane Society Members and employees, IHOP customers, and anyone who would have interest in cage-free egg suppliers. Humane Society released a hidden video, which was recorded by a smaller nonprofit, Compassion Over Killing, about cruel conditions inside an egg-supplier for IHOP. Humane Society had to get the video out quickly and try to reach many people in that time. Getting this done quickly allowed customers of IHOP to see this before management of the company could see it. The goal was to have better conditions to raise eggs. Humane Society and Compassion Over killing disliked what was seen in the video. Humane Society launched a campaign on September 16, 2009 using social media, web sites, and email.
The Tacoma Narrows Bridge is perhaps the most notorious failure in the world of engineering. It collapsed on November 7, 1940 just months after its opening on July 1, 1940. It was designed by Leon Moisseiff and at its time it was the third largest suspension bridge in the world with a center span of over half a mile long. The bridge was very narrow and sleek giving it a look of grace, but this design made it very flexible in the wind. Nicknamed the "Galloping Gertie," because of its undulating behavior, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge drew the attention of motorists seeking a cheap thrill. Drivers felt that they were driving on a roller coaster, as they would disappear from sight in the trough of the wave. On the last day of the bridge's existence it gave fair warning that its destruction was eminent. Not only did it oscillate up and down, but twisted side to side in a cork screw motion. After hours of this violent motion with wind speeds reaching forty and fifty miles per hour, the bridge collapsed. With such a catastrophic failure, many people ask why such an apparently well thought out plan could have failed so badly?(This rhetorical question clearly sets up a position of inquiry-which iniates all research.) The reason for the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge is still controversial, but three theories reveal the basis of an engineering explanation. (Jason then directly asserts what he found to be a possible answer to his question.)
The priority and absoluteness of rights are very often the subject matter of ethical debates. We can mention some articles which deal with it from different points of view (for example, the articles of T. Nagel, A. Gewirth, R. G. Frey, D. T. Meyers, L. E. Lomasky, P. Pettit, M. Philips, J. O. Nelson, F. Schauer, T. Machan and others).(1) I shall concentrate on these issues through my ethical theory entitled "ethics of social consequences" (ESC). "Ethics of social consequences" is one of the forms of satisficing non-utilitarian consequentialism. A core of that ethical theory is represented by the principles of positive social consequences, humanity, human dignity, legality, justice, responsibility, tolerance as well as moral obligation. Therefore, humanity and huma...
In her essay,”Importance of the Golden Gate Bridge,” Stephanie Stiavetti suggest that “It maintained this point of pride for nearly 25 years until the Verrazano- Narrows Bridge was built in New York in 1964. Today, this historic San Francisco landmark holds its place as the second largest suspension bridge in the country, behind Verrazano Narrows.” Back then, experts thought that it would be impossible to build a bridge across the tides and currents in that area because strong currents and tides would make construction extremely difficult and dangerous. The water is over 500 feet deep in the center of the channel, and along with the area's strong winds and thick fog, the idea of building a bridge there seemed nearly impossible. Despite all of the problems of building a bridge across the Golden Gate, Joseph Strauss was named as lead engineer for the project. Construction began January 5, 1933, and in the end cost more than $35 million to
Americans have argued over the death penalty since the early days of our country. In the United States only 38 states have capital punishment statutes. As of year ended in 1999, in Texas, the state had executed 496 prisoners since 1930. The laws in the United States have change drastically in regards to capital punishment. An example of this would be the years from 1968 to 1977 due to the nearly 10 year moratorium. During those years, the Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment violated the Eight Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. However, this ended in 1976, when the Supreme Court reversed the ruling. They stated that the punishment of sentencing one to death does not perpetually infringe the Constitution. Richard Nixon said, “Contrary to the views of some social theorists, I am convinced that the death penalty can be an effective deterrent against specific crimes.”1 Whether the case be morally, monetarily, or just pure disagreement, citizens have argued the benefits of capital punishment. While we may all want murders off the street, the problem we come to face is that is capital punishment being used for vengeance or as a deterrent.
At the center of the whole of creation, He placed us, human beings, with our inalienable human dignity. Although we share many features with the rest of the living beings, Almighty God went further with us and gave us an immortal soul, the source of self-awareness and freedom, endowments that make us in His image and likeness (cf. Gen 1:26-31; 2:7). Marked with that resemblance, we have been placed by God in the world in order to cooperate with Him in realizing more and more fully the divine purpose for creation.
Human life is full of meaning. As humans, we assign value to many things. However, what happens when we assign a specific value to a human life? This is the issue being presented in the article, “What is a Life Worth,” by Amanda Ripley. The government determines a monetary value to a human life, and it does not appeal to the masses.
It is a big question that most people often struggle with to decide when it is consider appropriate to assist an individual with mercy killing. In 1993, Robert Latimer a Saskatchewan farmer took the life of his twelve-year old daughter Tracy in an act of mercy killing. Latimer’s daughter suffered from the most dreadful form of cerebral palsy. She was severely disabled and had a mind of a four month old baby. Tracy was confined to a wheelchair and had endured multiple operations. She couldn’t walk, talk, or feed herself and she was in constant pain. After Robert Latimer learned that his daughter needed to go through another round of surgery, he knew he had to do something to save her from going through more pain. Therefore, Mr. Latimer decided
In order for us to become more fully human, and move along on our road to our