Whose Life is it Anyway?

959 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Legalized euthanasia. advanteges

A man in his fifties has cancer. He has been given months to live. He is in severe pain every day. He bleeds out of every orifice. His doctor tells him the only treatment options available would only add one or two months at best and would not add to his quality of life. His family that loves him is forced to watch him suffer, as there is nothing they can do. The closer he comes to death, the worse his symptoms will get. He loves life but does not want to die this way, nor be an added burden to his family. He wants to die in a dignified manor, but due to the law in his state, he is not allowed that choice. He is far from being the only person in this situation, but these people are forced to live in excruciating pain until their life ends. Why must they suffer? A writing teacher at Bennington once wrote, “We cannot deny the existence of the helpless as their presence grows” (Ascher, 195). In other words, we must help those around us who need our help, and not just ignore them. This was in an essay about compassion. Ascher was writing about the homeless, and the growing compassion shown to them in New York City. As humanity’s level of compassion grows, should it not also grow for those who are helpless in their own homes?

It is true that there are dangers to legalizing euthanasia or PAD (Physician Assisted Death) such as involuntary euthanasia, that it could undermine research into these illnesses, and doctors offering euthanasia as a quick and easy alternative to treating their patients. There are hospices willing to take care of those who are suffering and try to make them comfortable; however, some patients still continue to suffer in this situation as there is only so much hospices can do. With the correct regulation of eutha...

... middle of paper ...

...e the best ways to implement them, but I urge you to contact your local state senators and representatives. It is through continued discussion that regulation can be improved for passage in your state. Let us allow those with no other options to end their suffering.

Works Cited

Anaya, Rosie. “The Best Kept Secret on Campus” Kennedy, Kennedy, and Aaron 74-78.

Ascher, Barbara Lazear. “On Compassion” Kennedy, Kennedy, and Aaron 193-195

Kennedy, X.J., Dorothy M. Kennedy and Jane E. Aaron, eds. The Bedford Reader. 10th ed. Boston:

Bedford, 2009. Print

Mahr, Krista. Legal Euthanasia: No Spur to Suicide. Time.com, 2007. Web

31 May. 2011

Oregon Death With Dignity Act. ORS Chap 127. 800-995 Stat. 1994. Web

Quill, Timothy E. "Physician-Assisted Death in the United States: Are the Existing "Last Resorts"

Enough?" The Hastings Center report 38.5 (2008): 17-22.

Show More
Related

  • Assisted Suicide Euthanasia Essay

    785 Words  | 2 Pages

    In short, euthanasia asks questions that cannot be answered from the perspective of medicine alone. The inappropriateness between assisting voluntary death and the professional ethos of physicians may mean that physicians should not assist death, except it does not necessarily settle the argument of whether anyone ever should. Acceptance for palliative care seems to be growing, but support of assisted suicide is growing also, because end of life issues are kept in the public eye. Additional empirical analysis of this situation is important. Furthermore, this debate could continue to yield insights into the issues around suffering at the end of life.

    Read More

  • Ethical Issue in Comfort Care

    659 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to Gamliel (2012), euthanasia refers to actions or omissions that result in the death of a person who is already gravely ill. Techniques of active euthanasia range fro...

    Read More

  • The Perils of Obedience, by Stanley Milgram

    1490 Words  | 3 Pages

    Eds. Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen. Boston: Longman, 2011.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay: The Pros And Cons Of Euthanasia

    1907 Words  | 4 Pages

    Anyone can be diagnosed with a terminal illness. It doesn’t matter how healthy you are, who you are, or what you do. Some terminal illnesses you can prevent by avoiding unhealthy habits, eating healthily, exercising regularly and keeping up with vaccinations. However some terminally ill people cannot be helped, their diseases cannot be cured and the only thing possible to help them, besides providing pain relieving medication, is to make them as comfortable as possible while enduring their condition. Many times the pharmaceuticals do not provide the desired pain escape, and cause patients to seek immediate relief in methods such as euthanasia. Euthanasia is the practice of deliberately ending a life in order to alleviate pain and suffering, but is deemed controversial because many various religions believe that their creators are the only ones that should decide when their life’s journey should reach its end. Euthanasia is performed by medical doctors or physicians and is the administration of a fatal dose of a suitable drug to the patient on his or her express request. Although the majority of American states oppose euthanasia, the practice would result in more good as opposed to harm. The patient who is receiving the euthanizing medication would be able to proactively choose their pursuit of happiness, alleviate themselves from all of the built up pain and suffering, relieve the burden they may feel they are upon their family, and die with dignity, which is the most ethical option for vegetative state and terminally ill patients. Euthanasia should remain an alternative to living a slow and painful life for those who are terminally ill, in a vegetative state or would like to end their life with dignity. In addition, t...

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Physician Assisted Suicide

    1112 Words  | 3 Pages

    The word Euthanasia comes from the Greek and means “good death” (http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/hp.asp) and in the range of this paper, it will be called physician assisted suicide or “active” euthanasia. The definition of “active” euthanasia is ending one’s life yourself or with aid of a doctor. It can be done in various different ways; however, the most common form is with a combination of drugs, usually given by a physician. ( http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/hp.asp) The reason Physician Assisted Suicide (or PAS) is an important issue in this country and around the world is that there are many people out there suffering from debilitating, incurable and intensely painful diseases that would like to end their lives with dignity and without suffering. (Leo & Lein, 2010, The Value of a Planned Death)

    Read More

  • Arguments for Legalization of Physician-Assisted Dying

    702 Words  | 2 Pages

    PAD is the most debated moral issue, where the stances taken by various stakeholders are either for or against the issue. Since, Nurses put the patients’ decision first, most nurses advocate for the legalization of the PAD. Despite, Palliative care aims to relieve suffering and improve the quality of living and dying, most patients with a progressive life-threatening illness wish to end their life with some medical help. This desire needs to be respected, for patients deserve the peace of mind and improved quality of life that comes with knowing that a peaceful and dignified PAD will be an available choice, when the suffering becomes intolerable (BCCLA, 2015). In situation where legislation restricts the client to resort to PAD, people find different ways to end their life to eliminate the unbearable suffering, even if that means choosing a violent and risky death. Therefore, it is arguable that if these kind of violent methods are acts of desperation, then why not consider a peaceful method of ending life through medical help? Accepting PAD does not necessarily encourage suicide or

    Read More

  • Family Relationships: Sonny Blues by James Baldwin and I Stand Here Ironing by Tillie Olsen

    899 Words  | 2 Pages

    Janet E. Gardner , Beverly Lawn , Jack Ridl , Peter Schakel. Boston: Bedford/St.Martin’s, 2013. 250-276. Print.

    Read More

  • Essay On Assisted Suicide

    2917 Words  | 6 Pages

    ...tonomy. The law can require the medical opinions of several physicians and psychiatrists to formulate the most rational decision. In addition, waiting periods and consent from an individual close to the patient can be proscribed to prevent the patient from making decisions he or she will regret. All states that implement the legalization of assisted suicide must also limit the procedure to terminal illness only. Safeguards are vital, but every state must also devote resources toward oversight of the procedure. The role of the state government is to legalize, but not the program like in the Netherlands; the state should seek to improve the field of palliative care by promoting counseling and hospices. The purpose of legalizing physician-assisted death is not necessarily to promote the process as the optimal choice. Legalization will provide patients with an option

    Read More

  • Little Red Riding Hood by Bill Delaney

    937 Words  | 2 Pages

    8th ed. of the book. Boston: Wadsworth, 2013. 505 - 16. Print.

    Read More

  • Bonnie Steinbock The Morality Of Euthanasia

    1590 Words  | 4 Pages

    In this essay, I will discuss whether euthanasia is morally permissible or not. Euthanasia is the intention of ending life due to inevitable pain and suffering. The word euthanasia comes from the Greek words “eu,” which means good, and “thanatosis, which means death. There are two types of euthanasia, active and passive. Active euthanasia is when medical professionals deliberately do something that causes the patient to die, such as giving lethal injections. Passive euthanasia is when a patient dies because the medical professionals do not do anything to keep them alive or they stop doing something that was keeping them alive. Some pros of euthanasia is the freedom to decide your destiny, ending the pain, and to die with dignity. Some cons

    Read More

  • Ethics of Euthanasia

    1466 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • The Right to Physician Assisted Suicide

    1874 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Appearance and Reality in Shakespeare's Macbeth

    1162 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 7th ed. of the book. New York: Longman, 1999.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Euthanasia

    897 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is argued that sometimes the motive behind euthanasia is “good” because it can end ones suffering. Nonetheless, euthanasia is not a good excuse to commit murder and take the life of an innocent human being, as there are other methods to help a person. Palliative care is a physical, emotional, and spiritual care for a dying person when a cure isn’t possible. It includes a compassion and support for family and friends and is a way of using specialized medical technique to relieve their pain and make the most out of their remaining life. The focus in palliative care is not to cure the illness, as it may not be at the moment, but just to let patients live in dignity and peace before their death. Health isn’t everything in life, especially without joy and love, and this is where palliative care comes into play. This, of course, needs to be emphasized ...

    Read More

  • Critical Rhetorical Analysis: “Why Vampires Never Die”

    723 Words  | 2 Pages

    Kennedy, X.J., Dorothy M. Kennedy, and Jane E. Aaron. Bedford reader. S.l.: Bedford Bks St Martin'S, 2013. Print.

    Read More

More about Whose Life is it Anyway?

Open Document