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Physician assisted suicide case study
Physician assisted suicide case study
Physician assisted suicide case study
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The long time debate over medically assisted suicide, the presence of a doctor at a patient’s suicide, resurfaced again with the conviction of doctor Jack Kevorkian. Kevorkian was convicted of second degree murder when he euthanized, or administered the injection himself, Thomas Youk on September 17, 1998. Dr. Kevorkian, an advocate and practitioner of medically assisted suicides, has many opponents on the issue. Opponents say that it is unethical and even with the consent of the patient that the procedure is still a homicide and not suicide. I plan to show that physician-assisted suicide is morally and ethically acceptable, that court cases and laws have proven it to be acceptable, and that it is better than other alternatives. It is only logical that through consent by the patient, that physician-assisted suicide is justified. In the last decade there have been numerous cases regarding physician-assisted suicide. Many have been overturned due to technicalities. For instance, in the trial People vs. Kevorkian, Dr. Kevorkian was acquitted for prescribing the medication not knowing it would lead to death. The court ruled that if Kevorkian had knowingly prescribed the drugs in order for the patients to commit suicide, then he would have been found guilty. Since the start of the debate there has been some initiatives voted on in states in order to deal with the issue. Currently, only one state, Oregon, has passed a law allowing physician-assisted suicides. The law, titled The Oregon Death with Dignity Act, allows physician-assisted suicides and not euthanasia. This law has sparked a huge debate on whether other states will follow Oregon’s lead and pass similar laws. It is also importan... ... middle of paper ... ... Adam. "Showdown for Doctor Death." Time 152 (1998): 46-7. "Deathnet." Online. Internet. 27 April 1999. Available http://www.rights.org/deathnet/open.html. Detroit Free Press. "The Suicide Machine." 1997. Online. Internet. 27 April 1999. Available http://www.freep.com/suicide/index.html. Fields-Meyer, Thomas. "Exit Strategy." People-Weekly 50 (1998): 58-60. Foer, Franklin. "Death in Prime Time." U.S. News & World Report 125 (1998): 55-6. Grace, Julie. "Curtains for Dr. Death." Time 153 (1999): 48. Hunt, Roger. "A Bedside Perspective of Euthanasia." The Voluntary Euthanasia Society. November 1996. Online. Internet. 28 April 1999. Available http://www.ves.org.uk/ Morrow, Lance. "Time for the Ice Floe, Pop." Time 152 (1998): 48. Weir, Robert. Physician-Assisted Suicide. Indiana University Press, 1997.
Let's mention a known name in the euthanasia field, Dr. Jack Kevorkian. If this name sounds unfamiliar, then you have been one of the lucky few people to have been living in a cave for the last nine years. Dr. Kevorkian is considered to some as a patriarch, here to serve mankind. Yet others consider him to be an evil villain, a devil's advocate so to speak. Physician assisted suicide has not mentioned in the news recently. But just as you are reading this paper and I'm typing, it's happening. This hyperlink will take you to a web page that depicts in depth how many people Dr. Kevorkian has assisted in taking their lives.
or her life due to excruciating pain, he or she should have the ability to
is the understanding of this "rich" character. In this study I will try to analyze some of his traits (invisibility-lack of indentity , blindness) and his journey from idealism to a grim realism about the racism that confronts him in the story.
...in a unique manner. Through his use of the extreme tasks subjected to the blacks of his story, he manages to convey the intensity of their struggle against cruelty and all its complications [Carlson, 2000]. His story deals with the topic of the fight against racism and as such is an attack on racism in general, no matter where it might be found. When a human being is underestimated because of his race, as is the case with the characters in Battle Royal, it is a disgrace to the entire human race; Ellison’s story tells of the great necessity to fight this evil at all times and under all conditions.
The right to assisted suicide is a significant topic that concerns people all over the United States. The debates go back and forth about whether a dying patient has the right to die with the assistance of a physician. Some are against it because of religious and moral reasons. Others are for it because of their compassion and respect for the dying. Physicians are also divided on the issue. They differ where they place the line that separates relief from dying--and killing. For many the main concern with assisted suicide lies with the competence of the terminally ill. Many terminally ill patients who are in the final stages of their lives have requested doctors to aid them in exercising active euthanasia. It is sad to realize that these people are in great agony and that to them the only hope of bringing that agony to a halt is through assisted suicide.When people see the word euthanasia, they see the meaning of the word in two different lights. Euthanasia for some carries a negative connotation; it is the same as murder. For others, however, euthanasia is the act of putting someone to death painlessly, or allowing a person suffering from an incurable and painful disease or condition to die by withholding extreme medical measures. But after studying both sides of the issue, a compassionate individual must conclude that competent terminal patients should be given the right to assisted suicide in order to end their suffering, reduce the damaging financial effects of hospital care on their families, and preserve the individual right of people to determine their own fate.
Although widely condoned around the world, only one nation, the Netherlands has made physician assisted suicide legal. Five states tried Washington in 1991, California in 1992, Michigan in 1998,and main in 2000, Oregon in 1994 approved the “Death with Dignity Act” it won 51 percent to 49 percent. 91 people committed suicide with the aid of a physician in the first four years the law was in effect.
According to West’s Encyclopedia of American Law, between 1990 and 1999, a well-known advocate for physician assisted suicide, Jack Kevorkian helped 130 patients end their lives. He began the debate on assisted suicide by assisting a man with committing suicide on national television. According to Dr. Kevorkian, “The voluntary self-elimination of individual and mortally diseased or crippled lives taken collectively can only enhance the preservation of public health and welfare” (Kevorkian). In other words, Kevor...
“In 1999, Dr. Jack Kevorkian, a Michigan physician known for openly advertising that he would perform assisted suicide despite the fact that it was illegal, was convicted of second-degree murder” (Lee). The fact of the matter is human being...
Assisted suicide, by definition, is suicide facilitated by another person, especially a physician, in order to end the life of a patient suffering from an incurable or life-threatening illness. Ever since its first use in the 1970s, physician assisted suicide has been a topic of much controversy in the modern world. Issues surrounding the life or death of a person come with many sensitive areas of concern, including financial, legal, ethical, spiritual, and medical matters. Today, physician assisted suicide has only been legalized in two states while many other states have been fighting to pass or amend the Death with Dignity Act. But while some may say that physician assisted suicide is immoral and impractical because it deserts the hope for further healing, patients who are at death’s door should have the right to die with dignity with the aid of a practicing physician as an alternative to continually living with the burden of a terminal illness.
are made to sympathise with Link. One of the ways in which we are made
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.
Kuhse, Helga. “Euthanasia.” A Companion to Ethics. Ed. Peter Singer. Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 1991. 294-302. Print.
Ellison uses the protagonist’s naivete to illustrate the limitations of seeking guidance from others to find one’s identity. While being forced to compete in the Battle Royal for the enjoyment of white men, the narrator feels, “that only these men could judge truly [his] ability”(25). During the protagonist’s high school career he constantly turned to the white authority for validation of what he could do; since he believes that the white men hold all the answers he is not able to judge his own work and must turn to the whites to tell him how good he is. Due to the protagonist’s naivete, he fails to realize that he is the only person who can judge his ability and that he should not look to the white men that merely abuse his existence. While the narrator is studying at the state college for negroes, he blindly adopts the ideology of the Founder, without realizing what the...
Robert Matz; Daniel P. Sudmasy; Edward D. Pallegrino. "Euthanasia: Morals and Ethics." Archives of Internal Medicine 1999: p1815 Aug. 9, 1999 .
at a warehouse in London. David feels his "hopes of growing up to be a