Euthanasia and the Law
A severely handicapped or terminally ill person should have the right to choose to live or die. The right to live; the right to choose to live or die should not only be a right allocated for bodied individuals of sound mind but for all human beings. Euthanasia is a controversial issue which encompasses the morals, values and beliefs of our society.
Euthanasia, literally defined means "good death". There are two types of euthanasia, active and passive. Active euthanasia is the intentional killing of a person by medical personnel either by a lethal injection or by denying ordinary means of survival. The act of euthanasia called "passive euthanasia", is committed by denying or withholding ordinary medical care to a patient.
Currently, under Canadian law euthanasia is prohibited. In Holland euthanasia has been accepted, in principle for terminally- ill patients, on request. It comes to be seen as practice for those whose "quality of life" is judged by themselves as worthless. Even though euthanasia is not yet legal in
Holland, it is legally tolerated. Doctors are rarely prosecuted and even more rarely convicted. If euthanasia were to be decriminalized in Canada certain restrictions would have to be put into place, to ensure that a patient's rights are not infringed upon. A living will should be made when the patient is of lucid mind. Also, a council should be selected and outlined in the living will.
The council should be chosen by the patient, when the patient is of sound mind and is able to make decisions. The council might consist of the patient's family, doctor or any other he or she feels have the same view or perception of life. Presently in Canada a living will is not a legally binding document. A living will is a document prepared and sighed in advance of illness, in which a person may specify which treatment or care is to be withheld or withdrawn from him or her in certain situations. It is extremely general, trying to cover a wide range of accidents or illnesses and possible treatments. Living wills are created to protect the individual who is unable to participate in decisions regarding their medical care. In Canada, even with a living will in many cases any decisions on the ...
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...ad. He has no living will, no person deemed power of attorney, no family and is unable to make the decision himself. According to the law his doctors are unable to detach his life support systems. When can it be deemed legal for Mr. Brown to be detached from the life support system? If he were to be disconnected, who would make his decision? As the law presently states no one has the legal right to disconnect him, to let nature take its course. Will he be hooked up to life support indefinitely?
What is the cost? Is this burden worthwhile for society? Something must be done to solve this problem.
A severely handicapped or terminally ill person should have the right to choose to live or die. The "right to life", is one that should be a fundamental right of all individuals. When the time comes that an individual feels that their pain and suffering has become so extreme that their quality of life has been reduced to such a level that life is no longer worth living. Canadian laws presently do not grant individuals these rights. The laws that restrict these rights must changed to all Canadians with the ultimate freedom of choice the right to die.
Usually your body produces antibodies to fight off invaders such as Viruses or diseases but since Lupus is an autoimmune disease; the immune system can’t tell the difference between foreign invaders and healthy tissues. There 3 types of Lupus Systemic Lupus (most common) which can affect any part of the body, Discoid Lupus which only affects the skin, and Drug induced Lup...
Lupus (systemic lupus erythematosus) is an autoimmune condition that is characterized by systematic damages caused on the immune system by the body itself. The most affected parts if the body by this condition are, heart, kidney, liver, joints, and the brain. With these parts of the body affected, the entire body can end up being paralyzed or rather not working well. Lupus or SLE is commonly recognized by butterfly rush which spreads across the nose and cheeks (Magro et al. 2013). However, the most common symptoms for lupus are joint pains and swellings, kidney failures, fatigue, and photosensitivity.
Imagine that you're a young teenager living with you mother. She left your father, an abusive and violent man, when you were 10. Your mother is killed in a car accident 5 years later. Because your mother did not prepare a will, the state requires you to live with your father. The only thing you could do to save your own life is to terminate your father's rights by becoming emancipated.
...for my first cheerleading squad, in the seventh grade, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. In fact, the try outs were so hard and so demanding I did not make the cut. This did not discourage me at all; it only gave me motive to try harder. Next season I came back with a bang; I made the cheerleading squad. Cheerleading is an experience that I would never give up for anything in the world. I learned more lessons on teamwork here than any other sport I played, because in cheerleading I mainly had to communicate with the other cheerleaders. Cheerleading involved much work and effort from me and my team mates. When I first started cheering I was a fairly fat cheerleader; by the end of the season my body was perfect enough for a show all bikini, and this is the one change that made me genuinely realize, “yes, I am an athlete; cheerleading is a sport.”
Systemic lupus erythematosus, or simply lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease or immune system malfunction. A person's immune system normally protects the person from viruses, bacteria and other foreign materials. When a person has an autoimmune diseases like lupus, the immune system turns against itself and attacks itself.
Every individual with lupus has distinctive side effects that can run from gentle to extreme and may go back and forth over the long haul. New symptoms may keep on manifesting years after the initial detection, and distinctive indications can happen at diverse times. In some individuals with lupus the skin or joints are influenced. Other individuals experience indications in numerous parts of their body. Exactly how fully a person’s body is influenced by Lupus changes from individual to individual. (Encyclopedia.com, 2014)
Lupus is a chronic disease that damages any part of the body. For example: skin, joints, and organs, are all problem areas for this disease. The cause of Lupus is unknown and could be very difficult to diagnose. It may take years to officially diagnose a patient of having the Lupus disease. Doctors examine your blood, skin, and kidneys to finalize the diagnosis. Symptoms last up to six weeks or longer.[1] These symptoms being pain or swelling in the the joints, fever, hair loss, feeling tired, redness in the face, etc. Lesser symptoms would be things such as dizziness, confusion, and seizures. Lupus is treated by a doctor's prescription, and a list of doctors who specialize in things such as kidney disease, blood disease, skin disease, etc.
Healthcare errors occur at an alarmingly high incidence and are the eighth leading cause of death (IOM, 2000; Langdrigan, Parry, Bones, Goldman, and Sharek, 2010). The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) has estimated that there are 40,000 incidents of medical errors every day. At least 1.5 million preventable medication errors occur each year in the United States. Nurses, as one of the largest groups of healthcare providers, have new roles and responsibilities to improve patient safety and quality. Nurses can attempt to do this through being educated.
The start of seventh grade, I was far from the image of the typical cheerleader. I was clumsy, would spill anything and often tripped over my own feet. I also had a speech impediment, so people could not usually understand me. The thought of me being a cheerleader was laughable. However, my best friend convinced me to just try it, and after all, it was not something I had to do forever. After the very first practice, I was hooked. I was not very good; I would forget the cheers and forgot to smile. Nonetheless, I stuck with it. The thought of standing in front of crowds and doing
When I first started cheering, I decided to participate because of two reasons: my mom forced me and my older sister, who I modeled after, cheered. As I got older and began to think for myself, I had engaged in cheer for so long that it became a habit. If my mom did not demand that I partake in cheer, I would not have been able to go through situations that sparked personal growth and knowledge. Cheerleading has given me opportunities to guide and interact with younger kids, which has influenced my decision to become a pediatrician.
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
Cheerleading was one of my favorite activities to do. I have been a cheerleader since Kindergarden. I use to push myself again and again to make sure all of my routines and chants looked as good as they could look. Since I was younger I have always been hard on myself and failing/not making the team wasn't an option. From the minute I got home I practiced until my arms hurt from tightening them to get a perfect motion.
“But you don't look sick.”. “If you just exercised more you would feel better.” , “It's all in your head.” , “You are just being lazy.”. These phrases are just a hand full of unkind things that people have said to me, simply because they do not understand my disease. Who could blame them? Doctors do not understand it. Researchers do not understand it. My parents do not understand it. My boyfriend does not understand it. Even I cannot understand it. I have Lupus. It is an unresolved disease that millions of people suffer with. Though there are numerous people diagnosed with lupus, there are very few people who know what it is, and how it impacts us from the time we wake up, to when we finally escape our pain with sleep. In this essay, I will explain what we know about lupus, what the symptoms are, and what kind of treatments are accessible for lupus.
It is almost unanimously agreed upon that the right to life is the most important and sacred right possessed by human beings. With this being said, it comes as no surprise that there are few issues that are more contentious than abortion. Some consider the process of abortion as immoral and consisting of the deprivation of one’s right to life. Others, on the opposite end of the spectrum, see abortion as a liberty and a simple exercise of the right to the freedom of choice.
of life. Death is inevitable. Why should each of us not have the right to