People take pain killers at the first hint of pain, What happens when you can’t afford that for your pets? In the blog, “Is It Ethical to Euthanize Your Dog?” (2011), by Elliot D. Cohen, Ph.D, Cohen shares the heavily biased argument for euthanasia, favoring the against side. Cohen’s purpose was to inform the readers about the ethical dilemma concerning euthanasia. Euthanasia can be the ethically and morally correct decision for a couple of reasons; pain and suffering of your pet, overall quality of life, and the tremendous vet bills.
One goal of euthanasia is to limit pain and suffering of animals, in some circumstances there is unnecessary pain and extreme suffering by prolonging your pet’s life. In the blog, “Is It Ethical to Euthanize Your Dog?” (2011), by Elliot D. Cohen, Ph.D, a few reasons are given for euthanasia, even among his heavy
…show more content…
In John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men, a ranch hand named Carlson addresses a fellow ranch hand, Candy, regarding his old dog, “He’s [Candy’s dog] all stiff with rheumatism. He ain’t no good to you, Candy. And he ain’t no good to himself.” (Steinbeck 44). Candy’s dog is ancient and Candy and the dog live on a ranch during the Great Depression. It would be a hard life for anyone, especially for an old dog with an even older owner. The dog was falling apart at the seams; near blind, no teeth, and ached every time he stood. I’d imagine life loses meaning at that point, the dog wasn't enjoying life and probably hadn’t for years. Carlson, the ranch hand also states in regard to Candy’s dog, “Can’t eat, can’t sleep, can’t walk without hurtin’.” (Steinbeck 47). Dogs are, by nature happy creatures and this dog was anything but happy. Naturally,this dog would have died long ago and honestly, it was the best option at this point for the dog. You know what people alway say, quality over quantity and at this point the quality of his life was
In the novel, Of Mice and Men, it reads “And at his heels there walked a drag footed sheep dog, gray of muzzle with pale, old eyes. The dog stuggled lamely to the side of the room and lay down, grunting softly to himself and licking his grizzled, moth eaten coat” (Steinbeck 24). This shows the dog has been in agony and is very old with his suffering self. This evidence supports my argument because Candy’s dog needs help getting around how Lennie needs help when he gets in trouble.
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
Steinbeck connects Candy with his dog in order to suggest that humans have created a society where the weak cannot survive. Earlier in the book, Candy describes his dog as the “best damn sheep dog I ever seen” (Steinbeck 44). However, in lines 9 and 10, Candy reiterates that the other workers shot his dog because “he wasn’t no good to himself nor nobody else.” As soon as the dog outgrows its usefulness by becoming old and blind, the other tenants team up to ensure its death, suggesting how society joins together to dispose of those who are weak. Steinbeck then connects Ca...
Candy, an old ranch worker, is pushed away from the others due to both his old age and the fact that he lost one hand in a ranch accident. All Candy wants is to be seen as beneficial to the ranch, but his disabilities, age and injury, prevent it: “I ain’t much good with only one hand. I lost my hand right here on this ranch” (Steinbeck 59). Candy’s loneliness comes from his desire to be valuable. He knows that ranch workers are treated impersonally: like parts on a machine, they are necessary to keep the ranch in business, yet are also worthless and easily replaced if they are broken. Candy’s dog, his only companion on the ranch, exemplifies this mindset, for he was killed when most people viewed him as an annoyance instead of treasuring his company like Candy. Harold Bloom writes, “Candy sees a value in his dog that Carlson (and those like him) do not.” Although the dog was old and burdensome, Candy saw value in companionship and having another living being by his side. Moreover, Candy is afraid of becoming worthless like his dog. His loneliness stems from fear of becoming u...
Euthanasia is a difficult ideal to understand, to lack the ability to place a value on someone’s life and to understand someone’s suffering at the sometime. Being pulled by both your heart and your soul at the same time.
The ethical debate regarding euthanasia dates back to ancient Greece and Rome. It was the Hippocratic School (c. 400B.C.) that eliminated the practice of euthanasia and assisted suicide from medical practice. Euthanasia in itself raises many ethical dilemmas – such as, is it ethical for a doctor to assist a terminally ill patient in ending his life? Under what circumstances, if any, is euthanasia considered ethically appropriate for a doctor? More so, euthanasia raises the argument of the different ideas that people have about the value of the human experience.
Euthanasia gives people a choice, rather than facing the degenerative effects of disease or old age. Euthanasia is life or death. The fear of the unknown or what happens afterwards is replaced by the agony of living. If life is too painful and the quality of life is extremely low, humans are left with no choice but to make a choice.
So while there are advantages to pet euthanasia, the cons far outweigh the pros. Pets are fun, and they are living things just like us. Killing them is absolutely unacceptable, especially when there are other solutions that work as well. While euthanasia is categorized as a "merciful ending," why should the end come at all before the animal's natural time? Now that you have read this paper, you know more about euthanization, what it is, and how to help prevent more animals from being killed.
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...
In Of Mice and Men Candy faces a moral dilemma with dog, to let it keep suffering or let Carlson take care of it. Candy’s dog was the only thing that kept him company, and happy. When Carlson came in the bunkhouse and smelt the dog, he told Candy that he thinks the dog would be better of dead. “This ol’ dog suffers hisself all the time” (Steinback 49) since he was so old. So, Carlson took care of the dog and shot him were “he wouldn't feel nothing” (Steinback 50)
Throughout the course of history, death and suffering have been a prominent topic of discussion among people everywhere. Scientists are constantly looking for ways to alleviate and/or cure the pain that comes with the process of dying. Treatments typically focus on pain management and quality of life, and include medication and various types of therapy. When traditional treatments are not able to eliminate pain and suffering or the promise of healing, patients will often consider euthanasia or assisted suicide. Assisted suicide occurs when a person is terminally ill and believes that their life is not worth living anymore. As a result of these thoughts and feelings, a physician or other person is enlisted to “assist” the patient in committing suicide. Typically this is done by administering a lethal overdose of a narcotic, antidepressant or sedative, or by combining drugs to create an adverse reaction and hasten the death of the sick patient. Though many people believe that assisted suicide is a quick and honorable way to end the sufferings of a person with a severe illness, it is, in fact, morally wrong. Assisted suicide is unethical because it takes away the value of a human life, it is murder, and it opens the door for coercion of the elderly and terminally ill to seek an untimely and premature death. Despite the common people’s beliefs, assisted suicide is wrong and shouldn’t be legalized.
When you hear the term euthanasia in reference to animals you think of the process that is used to end the suffering of an animal by putting them in a painless and permanent state of sleep. Today the term euthanasia is used to give reason to the murders of innocent animals all over the world. Animals should only be put down by euthanasia if they are in pain or suffering. Unfortunately most dogs that are euthanized over the course of the year are not aggressive or suffering from any disease (The Humane Society of the United States). Most of the animals are euthanized due to overpopulation in animal shelters. Euthanasia is a cruel and unnecessary practice that is not in the best interest for the animal.
While some people may believe that euthanizing animals is important and can protect people from dangerous animals or that it puts animals out of pain; I strongly encourage them to look at the other side of the argument. Understanding that many people abuse euthanizing for their own convenience is just one of the reasons we should stop euthanizing. Among other reasons is that people need to understand that euthanizing can immensely hurt a population of species by killing too many too soon. Above all, letting nature take it's course by allowing animals to die when it's their time is why we should not allow humans to euthanize. We should not decide animals fate for them. Therefore, I encourage that we take a stand against euthanasia. Together, we can stop this cruel act against
Euthanasia has been an ongoing debate for many years. Everyone has an opinion on why euthanasia should or should not be allowed but, it is as simple as having the choice to die with dignity. If a patient wishes to end his or her life before a disease takes away their quality of life, then the patient should have the option of euthanasia. Although, American society considers euthanasia to be morally wrong euthanasia should be considered respecting a loved one’s wishes. To understand euthanasia, it is important to know the rights humans have at the end of life, that there are acts of passive euthanasia already in practice, and the beneficial aspects.
Robert Matz; Daniel P. Sudmasy; Edward D. Pallegrino. "Euthanasia: Morals and Ethics." Archives of Internal Medicine 1999: p1815 Aug. 9, 1999 .