The applied ethical issue of euthanasia, or mercy killing, concerns whether it is morally permissible for a third party, such as a physician, to end the life of a terminally ill patient who is in intense pain. The word euthanasia comes from the Greek words eu (‘well’) and thanatos (‘death’). It means a painless and gentle death. But in modern usage, it has come to imply that someone’s life is ended for compassionate reasons by some passive or active steps taken by another person. The euthanasia controversy is part of a larger issue concerning the right to die. Staunch defenders of personal liberty argue that all of us are morally entitled to end our lives when we see fit. Thus, according to these people, euthanasia is in principle morally permissible. Two additional concepts are relevant to the discussion of euthanasia. First, voluntary euthanasia refers to mercy killing that takes place with the explicit and voluntary consent of the patient, either verbally or in a written document such as a living will. Second, non-voluntary euthanasia refers to the mercy killing of a patient who is unconscious, comatose, or otherwise unable to explicitly make his intentions known. (Downing 1969) In these cases it is often family members who make the request. It is important not to confuse non-voluntary mercy killing with involuntary mercy killing. The latter would be done against the wishes of the patient and would clearly count as murder.
Like the moral issues surrounding suicide, the problem of euthanasia has a long history of philosophical discussion. On the whole, ancient Greek thinkers seem to have favored euthanasia, even though they opposed suicide. An exception is Hippocrates (460-370 BCE), the ancient Greek physician, who in his famous oath states, "I will not prescribe a deadly drug to please someone, nor give advice that may cause his death." (Baird 1989) In medieval times, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim philosophers opposed active euthanasia, although the Christian Church has always accepted passive euthanasia.
Conflicting opinion is seen to be found when people talk about euthanasia. Some say it is good because people should have the right to choose what they want to happen to themselves. If they choose to end their suffering they should be able to do it without being made to feel like they have done something wrong. Some lay some guidelines and say...
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...he same time, it is ending the person's life that is the most valuable thing a person may ever hope to own. The decision to end one's life at the time of suffering should then be let laid into the hands of the sufferer and let it be upon his/her own conscience to decide whether he/she wants to end their lives. And yet it is a life that they are ending, life that is only given once and can never be replaced by anything else.
References:
1. Baird, Robert M. ed.: Euthanasia: The Moral Issues (Prometheus, 1989).
2. A.B. Downing, ed.: Euthanasia and the Right to Death (Humanities Press, 1969).
3. J. Glover: Causing Deaths and Saving Lives (Penguin, 1987)
4. Dennis J. Horan: Death, Dying and Euthanasia (Greenwood Press, 1980).
5. D. Humphrey: The Right to Die: Understanding Euthanasia (Harper and Row, 1986).
6. Marvin Kohl, ed: Beneficent Euthanasia (Prometheus, 1975).
7. Daniel C. Maguire: Death by Choice (Doubleday, 1974).
8. James Rachels: The End of Life: Euthanasia and Morality (Oxford University Press, 1987).
9. Maguire, Daniel. Death By Choice. (Garden City: Doubleday & Company, 1984).
10. Pence, Gregory E. Classic Cases in Medical Ethics: (McGraw-Hill, 2000).
The objective of this essay is to examine one of the six pillars of the President’s Task Force on 21st century policing. Of the six pillars, pillar four’s target is the importance of community policing and crime reduction. The definition of community policing is the use of partnership and problem-solving methods to address public safety issues, such as crime, fear of crime and social disorders. The highlight of community policing is that it partners with residents in the community to implement public safety. Some background into how community policing came to be was in the 1960s and 70s, civil rights protest were in effect. For example San Diego’s police department conducted a study with community policing. “Officers were expected to become
If not for our law enforcement officers receiving a tip from someone in the Muslim community this group could still be operating today. The first step toward success was to actively looking into the tip. We have heard many a time that a crime could have been prevented if not for a lack of resources. A proper allocation of resources can be factored into
Working with people can be challenging, but so rewarding all at the same time. As humans, we are certainly not perfect and we are making mistakes daily. Making decisions is one thing that does not come easily to us, and depending on the day you can get multiple different answers to one situation. The NASW Code of Ethics is an extremely helpful tool when we are working with clients and something that does not ever waiver in ethical decision-making. If we are working in the Social work profession, then we must insure we are making the correct decision for everyone who is involved with the client.
As a student new to social work, The Code of Ethics written by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) is in the forefront of my mind whenever practicing my freshly learned skills. According to the Code, these rules were written as the “values, principles, and standards to guide social workers’ conduct” (Code of Ethics - NASW, n.d.). Within my most-recent session, certain aspects of this code were relevant, including informed consent, privacy and confidentiality, a commitment to the client, the dignity and worth of a person, the importance of human relationships, integrity and competency of the worker, and social diversity.
Kerley K. and Benson M. (2000). Does Community- Oriented Policing Help Build Stronger Communities? Police Quarterly: 3 (1)
Ethics are an important part of social work. The NASW Code of Ethics guides a social worker on how to do their job in a way that effectively accomplishes what the social worker sets out to do. Often, though, dilemmas arise that pin our ethics against what could be called our “better judgment”. When this happens, the social worker has to decide between doing their job as they committed to when entering the profession, and looking out for the best interest of themselves or others that goes against the code.
There has always been a love-hate relationship between the public and the police. When called upon to help, they can be something sent from God, but when they are writing tickets, or taking a friend to jail, the view changes from a savior to a presence that is unwanted and often hated. An effort to improve the public view of law enforcement is being attempted by many departments. Using different styles of policing techniques, mainly community based policing, has proved to be the best way to improve the image of law enforcement.
Community oriented policing has been around for over 30 years, and promotes and supports organizational strategies to address the causes, and reduce the fear of crime and social disorder through problem solving tactics. The way community policing works is it requires the police and citizens to work together to increase safety for the public. Each community policing program is different depending on the needs of the community. There have been five consistent key elements of an effective community oriented policing program: Adopting community service as the overarching philosophy of the organization, making an institutional commitment to community policing that is internalized throughout the command structure, emphasizing geographically decentralized models of policing that stress services tailored to the needs of individual communities rather than a one-size-fits-all approach for the entire jurisdiction, empowering citizens to act in partnership with the police on issues of crime and more broadly defined social problems, for example, quality-of-life issues, and using problem-oriented or problem-solving approaches involving police personnel working with community members. Community oriented policing has improved the public’s perception of the police in a huge way. Community policing builds more relationships with the
Along with gaining the support of law enforcement officers in the community policing effort, members of the community must also take a stake and become an integral part of the movement. A study noted by Lord, Kuhns and Friday (2009), researchers found that more than 45 million people over the age of 15 encountered the police in some fashion. Of those encounters, one quarter involved members making first contact with police officers. Unfortunately, citizen encounters with law enforcement with negative connotations were more influential to decrease satisfaction with the police than were positive encounters to increase satisfaction (Lord, Kuhns, & Friday, 2009).
Community policing is a viewpoint and a managerial approach that endorses new affiliation among police and people. It stands on the principle that both the community and the police has to work jointly to prioritize, identify, and resolve current problems such as felony, fear of crime, drugs, overall neighborhood decay and social/physical disorder. Their goal should be to recover the general value of living in the neighborhood. Community policing involves a division wide pledge from everybody, sworn members and civilian, to the community policing viewpoint. Also it tests all employees to discover ways to state this new viewpoint in their occupations.
Community policing as it is now known today has been evolving slowly since the civil rights movement in the 1960s and exposed the weakness of the traditional policing model (law. jrnk. org. n.d.). Unfortunately, it was not until the 1980s when it began to be called community policing because police departments and the community felt that police officers need to be better involved in the community by committing more foot patrol and problem solving in the community. Therefore, they felt that it would build a better relationship between the police and the community. Although, foot patrol is a key component in community policing a lot of cities that use this model as of today have gotten away from the foot patrol due to the way some people view
All social workers are beholden to the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics. Professional ethics are the main core of social work. The profession has an obligation to articulate its basic values, ethical principles, and ethical standards. The code is composed of thematic sections that outline a social worker’s responsibility to clients, colleagues, employers, and the profession. Some responsibilities that a social worker has to a client are that the clients are their primary responsibility, fostering maximum self-determination in clients, respecting the privacy of clients, keeping information that has been shared during the course of their duties confidential and charging fees for services that are fair and considerate
‘Supply chain management integrates supply and demand management within and across companies. It encompasses the planning and management of all activities involved in sourcing and procurement, conversion, and all logistics management activities. Importantly, it also includes coordination and collaboration with channel partners, which can be suppliers, intermediaries, thir- party service providers, and customers’. (Web: Council for Supply Chain Management Pr...
We moved heavy furniture around, organized files, and answered simple questions for customers. Additionally, my dad started to notice my growing interest and talent in working with computers and used this skill for the business--I learned to use Microsoft Excel at the age of 12 and so that I could log inventory and draft work orders. By the time I was in high school, I was independently placing orders, talking to customers, and training new employees for the growing business. What I didn’t realize at the time was that growing up in my dad’s work environment gave me a business-oriented mindset, and this became most evident when I came up with the idea to create a web store to further promote my father’s
As many immigrant and minority communities see the police as corrupt, community policing could be a step in the right direction to gain their trust and to show legitimacy. Many troubled neighborhoods have poor collective efficiency and police departments can help community 's gain this with community policing. Many times where neighborhoods need community policing the most(high crime spots) there is poor citizen involvement in police events and programs(Skogan 1988).Residents could fear that if they cooperate with law enforcement the criminals will retaliate(Grinc 1994). Even with community policing, minorities, especially blacks do not seem to get the benefit of involvement(skogan 1990).