The Evolution of Euthanasia
This essay will investigate the evolution of the practice of euthanasia in the one country that has promoted it steadfastly for some years. The surprising result of my studies for this essay is the revelation that the Netherlands' practice of euthanasia has become so liberalized that it is no longer recognizable as the same program that was originally legislated.
Euthanasia in the Netherlands has gone from requiring terminal illness to no physical illness at all, from physical suffering to depression only, from conscious patients to unconscious, from those who can consent to those who cannot, and from being a measure of last resort to one of early intervention. Although respect for patient autonomy is the main ethical argument in favor of euthanasia, power has passed almost exclusively into doctors' hands. Patient autonomy has been subverted by the unprecedented rights given by the courts to doctors to decide the fate of patients.
The public era of euthanasia in the Netherlands began in 1973, [1] when two significant events occurred. A government commission reported that the ban on active euthanasia should remain, and a doctor, after admitting killing her sick mother who wanted to die, was found guilty, and given a suspended sentence. Evidence was tendered that she had only done what was already commonly, though unofficially, done by many doctors. The court announced several conditions which, in its view, would justify the active killing of a patient.
In 1981 and 1983, two courts reached similar conclusions.
A State Commission on Euthanasia decided in 1982, [2] that 'a doctor who terminates the life of a patient at the latter's expressed and serious desir...
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...t of The Remmelink Report and the van der Maas Study in Euthanasia, in Euthanasia, Clinical Practice and the Law. Ed Gormally L. The Linacre Centre 1994. p 219-240.
12. Id. p 230.
13. Pijnenborg L, van der Maas PJ, van Delden JJM, Looman CWN. Life terminating acts without explicit request of patient. Lancet 1993; 341: 1196-1199.
14. Van Delden JJM, Pijnenborg L, van der Maas PJ. The Remmelink Report; Two Years Later. Hastings Cent Rep 1993; Nov/Dec 24-27.
15. Fenigsen R. The Netherlands; New Regulations Concerning Euthanasia. Issues Law Med 1993; 9: 167-171.
16. Id. p 170.
17. van der Wal G, van der Maas PJ, Bosma JM, Onwuteaka-Philipsen BD, Willems DL et al. Evaluation of the Notification Procedure for Physician-Assisted Death in the Netherlands. New Eng J Med. 1996; 335: 1706-1711.
18. Mark Ludlow. Canberra Times. 17 November 1996.
Euthanasia is a word derived from Greek that has the etymological meaning of an easy death through the alleviation of pain (Moreno, 1995). Through the course of history, the signification of the term has changed and evolved in many different definitions. A useful definition of euthanasia on which we will base this essay, is named ‘mercy killing’, which signifies deliberately putting an end to someone’s life to avoid further suffering, as stated by Michael Manning in 1998. The euthanasia debate possesses a strong significance in our modern society. A discussion conducted by both scholars and politicians is going on whether physicians have the right to hasten the death of an individual by the administration of poison. In this essay
Nolan, Jenny. "Legalized Euthanasia in the Netherlands Raises Serious Ethical Concerns." The Ethics of Euthanasia. Ed. Nancy Harris. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2005. 56-59. Print. Rpt. of "Dutch Legalize Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide." National Right to Life News 28 (2001): n. pag.
Chaucer lived in a time of great flux. His world was not only different from the world of his parents and grandparents; it was different from the one that he grew up in himself. The Black Plague had decimated the population and created voids in the labor force. The 100 Year’s War was ongoing and required countless men and resources to continue. Traditions, customs and rituals were questioned as society changed. The divisions within social strata were blurring and the organization of Europe was changing. Because of this enormous change on all fronts, no one had the ability to predict what would come in the future. It was this context in which Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales, so it’s no wonder why he wrote his poem about a group of people who are in a transitory phase, a pilgrimage, which is completely different from their day to day existences. The three pillars or estates of society, the nobility, the Catholic Church and the peasants were changing and competing for a stronger foundation within society. Chaucer took the opportunity to comment on all of the estates in his poem, especially the Church. His keen insight allowed him to differentiate between the rules and the actors within Catholicism, and it appears that he was able to see the virtue of religion as well as the corruption within it.
In the Wife of Bath’s portrait she is described as heavy, bluff woman that is industrious, a talented weaver, her five husbands and her pilgrimages to Jerusalem. There is some reference to her potential promiscuity in youth but it is glossed over.
The characters are on a pilgrimage which is a clear indicator that the text is of religious genre. The Catholic Church, at the time, was losing many followers due to the Black Death and their lack of faith in the importance of the church. The Summoner and the Pardoner, who both represent the Catholic Church, are both described as greedy, corrupt, and abusive. This is a direct correlation to how Chaucer and many others felt about the Catholic Church during this period. The Monk and the Prioress are not described as being corrupt like the Summoner and the Pardoner; however they are described as falling short of what is considered ideal for people of their position. They both are described as being in a depressed state. Also bot...
Light-hearted yet bitingly satirical, Chaucer’s “General Prologue” to his Canterbury Tales is a commentary on the corruptions of the Church at the time. Chaucer, being of noble estate, retains his witticism in his narrator. The narrator devotes many a line to the vivid portrayals of the Prioress and the Frere. Through the actions of these two members of the clergy, it is seen that the lust for material goods, the need for flaunting one’s estate, and the development of hypocrisy all contribute to the shaking of the Church’s foundations.
Legalization of euthanasia would also place us on a ‘slippery slope’. The ‘slippery slope’ argument, proposed by Walker [2], stated that if euthanasia is legalized, more immoral actions would be permitted and those actions might not be able to keep under control. One example is that involuntary euthanasia would start to happen after the euthanasia has been legalized. The Netherlands has legalized the euthanasia twelve years ago. This law at first...
The Canterbury Tales is a literary masterpiece in which the brilliant author Geoffrey Chaucer sought out to accomplish various goals. Chaucer wrote his tales during the late 1300’s. This puts him right at the beginning of the decline of the Middle Ages. Historically, we know that a middle class was just starting to take shape at this time, due to the emerging commerce industry. Chaucer was able to see the importance and future success of the middle class, and wrote his work with them in mind. Knowing that the middle class was not interested in lofty philosophical literature, Chaucer wrote his work as an extremely comical and entertaining piece that would be more interesting to his audience. Also, Chaucer tried to reach the middle class by writing The Canterbury Tales in English, the language of the middle class rather than French, the language of the educated upper class. The most impressive aspect of Chaucer’s writing is how he incorporated into his piece some of his own controversial views of society, but yet kept it very entertaining and light on the surface level. One of the most prevalent of these ideas was his view that certain aspects of the church had become corrupt. This idea sharply contrasted previous Middle Age thought, which excepted the church’s absolute power and goodness unquestionably. He used corrupt church officials in his tales to illustrate to his audience that certain aspects of the church needed to be reformed. The most intriguing of these characters was the Pardoner. Chaucer’s satirical account of the Pardoner is written in a very matter-of-fact manner that made it even more unsettling with his audience. Chaucer uses his straightforwardness regarding the hypocrisy of the Pardoner, suggestive physiognomy of the character, and an interesting scene at the conclusion of the Pardoner’s Tale to inculcate his views of the church to his audience. The way that Chaucer used these literary devices to subtly make his views known to an audience while hooking them with entertainment, shows that Chaucer was truly a literary genius.
In 2001 the Dutch legalized euthanasia. In the beginning euthanasia was only permitted for people who were suffering unbearable pain and who were able to make the decision rationally. But things started to get out of hand when a group called Life-Ending Clinic opened. They were providing the service for people who had not been approved for euthanasia from their doctors. They accepted people with chronic depression and early stages of dementia. This issue has become alarming and is an example of the slippery-slope argument that religious groups and people opposed to euthanasia debate. (“The Dutch Debate Doctor-Assisted Suicide for Depression,”
...s a dictionary of 14th century English peopleIn this majestic piece of Literature, Chaucer uses physiognomy and striating to express his suggestion, dislike and admiration to the Church. He thinks Church has been polluted by people’s own greed and lost its original faith. He doesn’t like the Churchmen because they are nothing like their spiritual leader Jesus and don’t practice their religion in life. But he admires how people are well-educated in Church though these educations don’t do much in building of their moral standards. Today, more people think that indeed Canterbury Tale is a historical critique against the society during Chaucer’s time. But no matter how people define it, its sparkling dialogue, acute rendering of characters, warm humor and sympathetic understanding of Church, society and human nature will always shine in the universe of literature.
These arguments sum up the conflict between Protestantism and Catholicism. Protestantism defends that each person determines her or his own beliefs and salvation comes from a personal relationship with God. Catholicism maintains that salvation comes through a proper relationship guided by the laws of the Catholic Church.
One of the most interesting and widely interpreted characters in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer is the Wife of Bath. She has had five different husbands and openly admits to marrying the majority of them for their money. The wife appears to be more outspoken and independent than most women of medieval times, and has therefore been thought to symbolize the cause of feminism; some even refer to her as the first actual feminist character in literature. Readers and scholars probably argue in favor of this idea because in The Canterbury Tales, she uniquely gives her own insight and opinions on how relations between men and women should be carried out. Also, the meaning of her tale is that virtually all women want to be granted control over themselves and their relationship with their husbands, which seems to convince people that the Wife of Bath should be viewed as some sort of revolutionary feminist of her time. This idea, however, is incorrect. The truth is that the Wife of Bath, or Alisoun, merely confirms negative stereotypes of women; she is deceitful, promiscuous, and clandestine. She does very little that is actually empowering or revolutionary for women, but instead tries to empower herself by using her body to gain control over her various husbands. The Wife of Bath is insecure, cynical towards men in general, and ultimately, a confirmation of misogynistic stereotypes of women.
In the “General Prologue” of The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer indirectly denounces the church describing that they are corrupt, greedy, hypocritical, and selective. The people that have some sort of relation to the church are The Prioress, The Nun, The Priest, The Friar, The Monk, The Parson, The Summoner and The Pardoner. The “General Prologue describes each of the pilgrims and their general traits. Some characters are described more than others because of the fact that Chaucer likes people who are affluent, beautiful and noble. The problem with some of the characters that were described by Chaucer is that they were negatively viewed based on stereotypes and appearance. Overall, Chaucer wants the readers to know that the church people are corrupt and deceptive. Chaucer wants the reader to understand that most of the church people do not live their life by the holy book.
Chaucer uses the Prioress, the Monk and the Friar to represent his views on the Church. He makes the three model members of the Church appear to have no problems with self-indulgence, greed, and being unfaithful to their vows. He displays his anti skeptical thoughts of the faults of the medieval church by making fun of its teachings and the people of the church, who use it for personal gain. Chaucer see’s the church as corrupt, hypocritical and greedy.
The wife wanted what every woman wants in a relationship which was POWER. The Wife of Bath came across as a very fake woman. So how would she be portrayed in today’s society? There are plenty of women out there who marry for money. Some of them like to publicize it, while others do not. There is only one thing that would make The Wife of Bath not as successful today, which is the law. Most men who do come from money, or have earned their own wealth, watch it closely. There are protectors out there, and contracts such as a pre-nuptial agreement. But The Wife played it well as she would wait until the husband would die. In that case, she would gain his wealth. But in my opinion, I have a hard time thinking that a man would stick around with an ugly old woman that liked to beat him and never honor his love.