It is obvious why this case and especially its verdict has caused such an uproar with ethicists and society. The ethical dilemma presented in this case is whether Canadian law has the authority to prohibit Sue Rodriguez the right to pursue physician assisted suicide as a way to end her life.…
Our lives are affected by our decisions. “Gregory” by Panos Ioannides and “Lather and Nothing Else” by Hernando Tellez both demonstrate dilemmas throughout the stories. It is observed that while decision making, every aspect and its outcome should be considered ad it is to be remembered that there are always options open and not every problem has an ultimatum.…
Rosenfeld, Barry. “Assisted Suicide and the Right to Die: The Interface of Social Science, Public…
The major claim of this editorial, is that legalized doctor-assisted suicide is euthanasia. We are asking for the right to decide though the court system, if an individual’s life is valuable or not. Some may claim we are just hiding or heartless nature and corrupt moral standards to justify our actions.…
“With reference to the decisions of the Courts and Parliament discuss whether the government should change the law on assisted suicide and allow mercy killings in some circumstances.”…
Jonathan Glover, in his article Matters of Life and Death casts dispersions on both pro-abortion and anti-abortion debates citing them as too knee-jerk emotional reactions diminishing the inherent complexity of the other side (1. Glover, CC2006, p. 0110). Glover comprehensively addresses the key points of both sides of the abortion debate and evaluates their inherent virtues, especially for those who hold these opinions, then methodically points out its flaws. Ultimately, Glover comes to the conclusion that though a fetus is a human at the moment of conception, the right to abort lies with the mother and her own self-determination.…
There are two factors that have contributed to euthanasia’s distinction with how the world is today. They are both an increasing sense of self-determinism and medical revolution that have the potential of prolonging human life (Michigan, 2006). People think that just because there are things like hospice and medication that euthanasia shouldn’t even be an option. But what people don’t know is that even with the best medication and the patient being made completely comfortable, it is not the pain that causes people to ask for what people call a “hastened death”, but the humiliation and suffering that accompanies most terminal disorders.…
Most people would agree that the right of a competent, terminally ill person to avoid any unnecessary excruciating pain seems as though it should be a basic human right. To have someone go through more suffering than absolutely necessary seems as though it would fall under the description of an inhumane act, and frankly an injustice against the basic human right of bodily autonomy and integrity. Due to these almost undeniable arguments, physician assisted suicide, in many cases, is seen as a basic human right that we need to be granted access to. Activists argue that it is simply an additional choice that we will be able to make, and that it will surely never be pushed onto anybody or used sinisterly (Maynard 2014). Although this claim is something that we cannot be entirely sure of, as I have continued to research the pros and cons behind physician assisted suicide, I have come to the conclusion that in many cases it truly does seem that the legalization of physician assisted suicide is the best option for everyone involved. It is a means to cease any unnecessary suffering that a person may be going though, and provides a sense of comfort for them during a time in their lives where they are not given many choices besides to deal with what they are going through and try to survive. Additionally, with many of the extreme medical advancements of the 20t century, our goals have been clouded by the quest to…
State legislatures across America debate whether to make it legal for doctors to administer lethal drugs to terminally ill patients upon request. It is viewed as a choice issue, and oftentimes the word “suicide” is considered insensitive to use in this context: some advocates argue that people do not choose this route because they are suffering from a psychiatric condition or are distressing over life. They…
The term euthanasia originated from the Greek word for "good death." It is the act or practice of ending the life of a person either by lethal injection or the deferment of medical treatment (Munson, 2012, p. 578). Many view euthanasia as simply bringing relief by alleviating pain and suffering. Euthanasia has been a long-standing ethical debate for decades in the United States. Active euthanasia is only legal in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. Assisted suicide is legal in Switzerland and in the United States in the states of Washington, Oregon and Montana (Angell). Several surveys indicate that roughly two thirds of the American public now support physician-assisted suicide, and more than half the doctors in the United States do too (Angell). Active voluntary and nonvoluntary euthanasia matter because they allow the patient or family to relieve them of pain and suffering, and to die with dignity and respect. In this paper I will argue that it is immoral and unethical to deny a patient the right to die and that active voluntary and nonvoluntary euthanasia should be a legal practice in the United States.…
Making choices is fundamental to our lives. When we are making decisions, the biggest paradox may be the conflict between the sense and the sensibility. It has been over two hundred years since Jane Austen wrote the novel Sense and Sensibility, yet to our surprise nothing has really changed. We still struggle to make the moral and ethical choices that people have struggled with over the years. In “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King Jr. broke unjust laws and engaged in nonviolence direct action in order to gain equality and freedom. In “Dog Lab”, Claire McCarthy wanted to take advantage of the dog lab for further learning, but she was reluctant to attend the lab because killing a dog was inhumane and against…
Over the past decade, we have gone from Dr. Jack Kevorkian's first public assisted suicide to the first legal assisted suicide in Oregon. The underlying issue has been whether terminally ill individuals should have the right to ask a doctor to hasten their own deaths. However, larger issues have been raised as well; about dying with dignity and what constitutes a ''good death.''…
In ancient days, assisted suicide was frequently seen as a way to preserve one’s honor. For the past twenty-five years, on the other hand, the practice has been viewed as a response to the progress of modern medicine. New and often expensive medical technologies have been developed that prolong life. However, the technologies also prolong the dying processes, leading some people to question whether modern medicine is forcing patients to live in unnecessary pain when there is no chance they will be cured. Despite the changes in modern medicine, the attitudes toward assisted suicide in America’s courts and legislatures have not altered considerably. Debate over assisted suicide nearly always centers on the “slippery slope” argument. This argument holds that permitting one behavior will lead to a series of increasingly dangerous behaviors. Critics argue that if voluntary assisted suicide is legalized for competent, terminally ill adults, the acceptance of involuntary euthanasia for incompetent, elderly, or uninsured people will follow. Assisted-suicide advocates contend that the slippery-slope argument is fallacious. They argue that legalizing assisted suicide would not place patients’ right to life at risk because America is founded on democratic values that would ensure the rights of all citizens.…
People with terminal illnesses have unbearable pain and suffering. Large medical bills are accumulated when terminally ill patients go in-and-out of the hospital to try and ease their suffering. Thus, increasing economic affliction for the surviving family.…
Cited: Bowden, Thomas A. "Individuals Should Have a Legal Right to Choose Death" Current Controversies Series. Greenhaven Press, 2009. Opposing Viewpoints Web 30, Oct 2011.…