Euthanasia In Suzanne Collins's Of Mice And Men

“For there to be betrayal, there would have to have been trust first.” (Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games) In Of Mice and Men two young men, George and Lennie, set out to work at a ranch to eventually aim for a piece of land of their own. Lennie is developmentally challenged and gets into trouble without meaning to. Lennie takes it too far, even for him, and accidentally kills a young woman. George kills Lennie himself in order to save his friend from a possible slow and painful death from the woman's husband. It is true that in many cases it offers a suffering person a better alternative but euthanasia is immoral and provides an all too easy blame for questionable situations as well as euthanasia is often is abused by the very people who are supposed to be trusted with the health of their patients.

In an American Medical Association letter discussing the ethicality of Dr. Jack Kevorkian's conducting of 130 assisted suicides, Kirk Johnson states: “Mr. Kevorkian’s actions are not those of a primary treating physician. Rather, he serves merely as a reckless instrument of death.” (American Medical Association AMA). The analogy between reckless instrument of death and an educated physician truly represents how the public could start to to view once trusted doctors. This lack of trust could transfer to other aspects when you bring in mercy killing among close friends or family. When thinking about George’s reasons for killing Lennie in this way it becomes evident George was wrong in his decision because had no right to give himself the duty of killing Lennie especially without given