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Is assisted suicide ethical
Religion and medical ethics
Is assisted suicide ethical
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Dr. Kevorkian was mostly known for his role in aiding people in ending their life with assisted suicide. He helped people euthanize themselves that were critically ill. Dr. Kevorkian was often in courts over his actions in assisted suicide. Even thought Dr. Kevorkian was raised in a strict religious home where suicide was a sin (The Biography Channel Website 1). He still continued to help people even though it was frowned upon by his church. The life of Dr. Kevorkian has affected the way people look at assisted suicide. Jack Kevorkian was born on May 26, 1928. Jack was born to Levon and Satenig Kevorkian. Kevorkian was born into a family that was very religious. His parents were immigrants to the Unite States because they escaped the Armenian massacre. Kevorkian's parents were very strict about their children's education so Jack Kevorkian was often pushed to his highest potential. Kevorkian did not believe in god and he looked for reasons for why god excised until he was 12 years old. Kevorkian was he middle child in his family (The Biography Channel Website 1). Jack Kevorkian was a very good student in high school but he was often board by his studies. Since Kevorkian was a good student he was often ahead of his class so to make things interesting he would often try to outsmart his teachers to make class interesting and to embarrass his teacher. Kevorkian was first accepted into the University of Michigan state of engineering. He enjoyed this program until halfway through his freshman year when he got bored of his studies. He then set his sights on medical school and the study of botany and biology. He then switched collages and began his 20 hour credit that was needed to catch up with the college. Kevorkian then graduated f... ... middle of paper ... ... Kevorkian ment good by what he was doing. I believe that his major downfall was that the idea of assisted suicide was too much of a taboo for people to handle. I also think that he should have done his work legally rather than illegally. In my opinion he really cared about what he was doing because even thought the odds were against him he still helped people with assisted suicide. Dr. Kevorkian was seen differently by many people. Some people thought that he was a good person while other people saw him as a criminal for helping people end their life. Due to his actions many laws have been created against assisted suicide. Even though he was charged with murders and for breaking the law he still kept on helping people. This showed that he cared a lot about his patients. The Kevorkian that started as a quiet religious child grew up to be a highly debatable person.
Jackie Robinson was born on January 31, 1919 in Georgia. On this day, a legend arrived. Jackie was raised by his mother, and his mother alone. His father left before Jackie was born, and he didn’t remember one thing about him. Jackie had many siblings, brothers and sisters.
Due to his extreme popularity he opened the door to public radio. For these reasons, Jack Dempsey was influential to the 1920’s and even to this very day. William Harrison Dempsey, better known as Jack Dempsey, was born on June 24, 1895. He was born in Colorado but became a “nomadic traveler” when he began his boxing career in the small rickety towns of his home state (“Biography”). At the age of sixteen, Dempsey started training to box.
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.
In the 1340’s, an epidemic named the Black Death, erupted through Europe, killing nearly ⅓ of its population. The Black Death originated in China, rapidly spreading to western Asia and Europe. It killed about 30 million people in Europe plummeting its population. A lot of these people were peasants. This was because they had the least money, therefore putting them in the worst living conditions. There were so many of them that no individual could make a substantial amount of money. When the plague hit, the peasants were strongly affected. A huge population of them were killed. After the epidemic, the population of peasants was far less than before. This provided them with a chance to really improve their lives. The Black Death caused a change
Killing or assisting in suicide is not a morally indifferent act. Dr. Kevorkian says, “My intent was only to relieve their suffering, an act that inevitably killed the person.” He justified his acts, because most of his patients had Lou Gehrig’s Disease and could not feed or care for themselves (Murphy, 1999). Although only the good effect was intended, the bad effect (death) was the means to the good effect. The proportionality between the good and bad effect must be analyzed for each specific case. Dr. Kevorkian’s acts violated at least two of the principles of double effect, so they are not ethically justified.
James Baldwin was born in New York City on August 2, 1924 (Magilla 101). Baldwin’s dad made his childhood harder than it already was. His father constantly criticized and teased him (Magilla 101). When Baldwin was younger, he rebelled in many ways, first by becoming a Youth Minister at his family’s rival congregation, then by rejecting the church to pursue writing (Magill 101).
In the article, Doctor Turns to Kevorkian: Oak Brook Man’s Suicide Enters Right to Die Debate, Kiernan and Gottesman, (1993) tells the story of Dr. Ali Khalili and probes the merits of his decision to end his own life, and his choice of asking Dr. Jack Kevorkian to assist him.
...ow point drives him to consider death as an alternative to suffering. This chapter helps to highlight some present day themes about the ethical issues of euthanasia such as the difference between active and passive euthanasia. Also whether or not a medical professional should assist in the process and under what circumstances. Discussion about euthanasia will probably continue in the future. This character brings some of the issues to light.
Dr. Jack Kevorkian assisted over a hundred people in ending their lives voluntarily. He was tried and convicted of second degree murder despite the fact that all of his patients willingly participated and asked him for help in ending their lives (“Jack Kevorkian”). What led to his demise was in one of his cases, unlike his prior patients, he actively participated in the death of the patient with a lethal injection (“Jack Kevorkian”). The man was too weak to do it himself and it was videotaped, which was used as evidence in his case against him. Dr. Jack Kevorkian helped multitudes of competent terminally ill patients, end their suffering and pain (“Jack Kevorkian”). Usually in assisted suicide cases the doctor prescribes a lethal dose of a prescription, but the patient must administer the medication on their own, with no help from anyone else including the physician. This prescription is only ordered after the patient has stated two different times on two different occasions with fourteen days in between and sometimes with written consent, that they agree to the decision to end their life with the help of their physician through a lethal dose of a prescription.
Jack Kevorkian, a former pathologist said, “ Everyone has a right for suicide, because a person has a right to determine what will or will not be done to his body” (“Should Euthanasia or Physician-Assisted Suicide Be Legal?”). That's true, everybody should be able to determine what happens to their body. Geoffrey N. Fieger, a attorney for Dr. Kevorkian, said, “a law which does not make anybody do anything, that gives people the right to decide, and prevents the state from prosecuting you for exercising your freedom not to suffer, violates somebody else’s constitutional rights is insane” (“The Right to Assisted Suicide). Then Ronald Dworkin, a person that witnessed a woman in pain, ask for assisted suicide, said “whatever view we take about, we want the right to decide for ourselves” (“The Right to Assisted Suicide”). This is showing that people want to be able to make their own decisions with their body. If they or somebody they know wants to make the decision to go with assisted suicide, they want to be able to do that. Therefore assisted suicide should become legal because people want to, and should be able to make their own decisions with their
Schneider Keith, “DR. Jack Kevorkian Dies at 83; A Doctor who helped End Lives”. The New York Times. Arthur Sulzberger Jr. 3, June 2011. Online Newspaper 2014
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...
Diane was a patient of Dr. Timothy Quill, who was diagnosed with acute myelomonocytic leukemia. Diane overcame alcoholism and had vaginal cancer in her youth. She had been under his care for a period of 8 years, during which an intimate doctor-patient bond had been established. It was Dr. Quill’s observation that “she was an incredibly clear, at times brutally honest, thinker and communicator.” This observation became especially cogent after Diane heard of her diagnosis. Dr. Quill informed her of the diagnosis, and of the possible treatments. This series of treatments entailed multiple chemotherapy sessions, followed by a bone marrow transplant, accompanied by an array of ancillary treatments. At the end of this series of treatments, the survival rate was 25%, and it was further complicated in Diane’s case by the absence of a closely matched bone-marrow donor. Diane chose not to receive treatment, desiring to spend whatever time she had left outside of the hospital. Dr. Quill met with her several times to ensure that she didn’t change her mind, and he had Diane meet with a psychologist with whom she had met before. Then Diane complicated the case by informing Dr. Quill that she be able to control the time of her death, avoiding the loss of dignity and discomfort which would precede her death. Dr. Quinn informed her of the Hemlock Society, and shortly afterwards, Diane called Dr. Quinn with a request for barbiturates, complaining of insomnia. Dr. Quinn gave her the prescription and informed her how to use them to sleep, and the amount necessary to commit suicide. Diane called all of her friends to say goodbye, including Dr. Quinn, and took her life two days after they met.
...tentially be cured with a one surgery. He uses this story of death to share that life is short. “Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by Dogma. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most importantly, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” He uses repetition and parallelism to drive his message home.