ipl-logo

Persuasive Essay On Euthanasia

1816 Words8 Pages

Introduction
Euthanasia is one of the most debated and highly controversial topics in the medical field today. Many ancient societies held many different views on Euthanasia or “good death”, it’s etymology. In Sparta, newborn male babies where examined for signs sickliness or disability, and if any signs were found, the child would be cast over a cliff. As the Spartans viewed a sickly child was an unnecessary burden. Christianity and Judaism shared similar views on euthanasia, as only God may create and take life away. God created human beings, so they belong to Him and not themselves. In 1994 Oregonians approved the first Death with Dignity Act in US history, four other states would soon follow suite. Perhaps the most famous case dealing with euthanasia in the medical field, is Doctor Jack Kevorkian. Kevorkian wished to relieve his patients of their suffering, saying “I am doing what a physician is supposed to do”. Kevorkian was faced with pre-meditated murder after broadcasting a euthanasia case on 60 Minutes (NY Times). While Kevorkian was incarcerated for up to eight years, Kevorkian stirred up a state and federal debate on the Right to Die.
October 27th, 1997 was a defining day for Death with Dignity Acts, the first bill of its …show more content…

Allowing patients, the ability to choose how they will die. Opposer’s of DWDA will often cite that quality of health care will decrease and that it is not the role of a physician to assist in making the patient comfortable. While a physician can make all the recommendation’s they want, it is ultimately up to the patient, being of sound mind and body to make decisions for themselves. A right to choose is a choice that should be afforded to all Americans with a terminal illness if they meet certain standards. All the DWDA shared near identical standards, unlike the laws passed throughout Europe and other countries with Death with Dignity Act

Show More
Related

Physician Assisted Suicide Ethical Issues

1350 Words | 6 Pages

Dennis Mmasa Hakyoung Ahn English 104 18 November 2015 Dr.Jack Kervokian as many know him as “Dr.Suicide” died in 2011. He was well known for being the first physician to advocate for Physician Assisted Suicide. He helped hundreds of patients with terminal diseases end their lives. His effort to advocate for this led the state of Oregon to pass the Death with dignity act which would legally allow patient to go through with this procedure. This procedure has caused many concerns about the ethical rights of this procedure.

Read More

Physician Assisted Suicide Research Paper

612 Words | 3 Pages

The debate on whether or not to legalize assisted suicide in every state has caused many uproars in the field of health care. Elements that factor into the controversy of this practice include ethicality, legality, and autonomy. Questions about the issue include: should the patient have the autonomy to select the system of assisted suicide, is it morally

Read More

John Locke Physician Assisted Suicide

928 Words | 4 Pages

Jack Kevorkian was a compassionate doctor who believed in his patients’ rights to choose physician assisted suicide and some say he was hero while others called him a monster or Dr. Death. He assisted 130 terminally ill patients to voluntarily end their own lives with dignity, peace, and at their own time to avoid severe pain, humiliation, and added stress to the patients’ family members. He believed it was the patients’ choice to end their life on their own terms without the government or insurance companies intruding, or a physician’s “keep a patient alive at all costs” mentality. “Lethal injection is now the main method of execution in all but two states due to our desire for the worst of the worst to die in a dignified manner, yet we want the terminally ill to endure suffering, pain, humiliation, and the erosion of their estate without giving them an opportunity to choose the time and method of their death?” Dr. Kevorkian believed a great start for Congress to enact a law providing any terminally ill patient the ability to seek a humane, dignified death by lethal injection.

Read More

The Pros And Cons Of Death With Dignity

361 Words | 2 Pages

“Be smart, be strong, live honorably and with dignity, and just hold on” (Fray). Physician assisted suicide or better known as Death with Dignity isn’t your everyday topic or thought, but for the terminally ill it’s a constant want. The Death with Dignity isn’t something that all people or religions are in favor of and nor is the act passed in all states in the United States. Only three states in the U.S. today, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington offer their residents the option to have aid in dying as long as all the requirements are met. Death with Dignity doesn’t effect just the terminally ill person, but as well as family and friends around them creating many conflicting thoughts when opinion if Death with Dignity is truly moral and a choice

Read More

Physician Assisted Suicide Essay

798 Words | 4 Pages

Geertruida Postma, a Dutch physician in the Netherlands, was the first to openly practice a physician-assisted death in 1971. The patient was her mother. She was found guilty of murder, but her penalty only consisted of a one-week suspended jail sentence and a one-year probation. This minimal sentence made other physicians more comfortable to come forward about doing the same (“Euthanasia”). Fast forward 29 years, and in 1990 Jack Kevorkian, also known as “Dr. Death” assisted a woman named Janet Adkins, suffering from Alzheimer’s, end her life.

Read More

Physician Assisted Suicide Persuasive Essay

460 Words | 2 Pages

It can be argued that every individual has a “right to die” because the due proper clause implies that an ill patient has the right to refuse medical treatment and the government should not deny one of this right. The Due Process Clause, under the fourteen amendment, states that no one can be deprived of their, “life, liberty, or property.” For example, a patient who has little chance of survival may choose to have a physician assisted death arguing that he or she is protected by this specific law. But a Supreme Court ruling, which took place in 1997, elaborated on the definition and distinguished a bold line between physicians assisted suicide and refusal of medical treatment. In the Washington vs. Glucksberg trial, four physicians and three ill patients went to court to challenge the state of Washington’s law against physician assisted

Read More

Physician Assisted Suicide Argument

1728 Words | 7 Pages

Dr. Jack Kevorkian, whom many consider the Godfather of “The Right To Die Movement,” is attributed to sparking the plug in regards to serious reform in the medical field to legitimize those suffering with terminal illness who no longer wish to live (James, Legacy). During his time, Kevorkian assisted in the deaths of at least 130 people during the 90’s (James, Legacy). Opponents of Kevorkian’s work and physician assisted suicide altogether, voiced many reasons as to why they felt this practice was detrimental and in similar fashion the anti PAS crowd express some of those same reasons

Read More

Persuasive Essay On Physician Assisted Suicide

630 Words | 3 Pages

I was, and am a proponent of "death with dignity", since many years ago I had heard for the first time about Dr. Kevorkian. Then, I was concerned about the possibility of "assisted suicide" being used for other then voluntary, and consensual decision to end one's life. The passed in Oregon in 1994 "Death with Dignity" law, allows patients with chronic, debilitating diseases, and /or the end stages of their diseases, when there is no hope for cure, and the suffering becomes unbearable, to die with dignity. It allows them control, and a choice of whether they want to continue or whether they want to end their life. The fact that candidates for death with dignity have to fully understand what their decision means, and be able themselves to take the medication, eliminates the possibility of criminal wrong doing, such as was the case with Dr. Kevorkian assisted suicide, where the patient was injected with a lethal medication by other person then the patient himself.

Read More

Persuasive Essay On Physician Assisted Suicide

814 Words | 4 Pages

With so many advances made in the world of medicine this issue seems to be much less mysterious and taboo of a subject now than years ago. Our understanding and knowledge of life and death is greater than ever now thanks to science. However at the heart of this issue there still lies a huge emotional and religious debate on Death by Dignity with many religions. Christianity in general including Anglican, Catholic, Baptist, Evangelical, Eastern Orthodox and many others strongly disagree that an individual should be able to take their own lives no matter what

Read More

Persuasive Essay On Physician Assisted Suicide

944 Words | 4 Pages

In the last decade, a controversial topic in the medical field in America is about Physician-assisted suicide. Many citizens are questioning where the line stands in whether or not this goes against medical ethos, and if it is a right for terminally ill patients. While there are benefits and deficits to either side, I believe everyone should have the right to choose to participate in assisted suicide when battling a terminal illness. While a handful of states in America that include, Oregon, Washington, California, Colorado, Vermont, and with court decision, Montana have already passed the Death with Dignity Act, it is still not easily accessed and there are a lot of parameters regarding the Act ("Death with Dignity"). In Oregon you have to meet certain criteria.

Read More

Persuasive Essay On Physician Assisted Suicide

947 Words | 4 Pages

In 1999, Jack Kevorkian was arrested for physician assisted suicide. He was convicted of 2nd degree murder for assisting an alzheimer’s patient with euthanasia. This brought up a lot of controversy over whether or not doctors have a right to help a terminally ill person die. Oregon was the first to

Read More

Research Paper On Thomas Aquinas

1399 Words | 6 Pages

Humans are naturally inclined to preserve life, making it a part of the natural law. Euthanasia, or assisted suicide, has been a controversial debate that has yet to see a resolution. This controversy was ignited in the 1900s by Doctor Jack Kevorkian who spent his entire life on the topic of assisted suicide. Aquinas would conclude that assisted suicide does not adhere to the precepts of the natural law. These precepts include the preservation of life, procreation, education of children, living in a well-ordered community, and seeking God and worshipping Him.

Read More

Ethics Of Assisted Suicide Essay

601 Words | 3 Pages

Although there is a very long history of euthanasia that dates back to the 15th century (“A General”), the story of the modern movement starts out in 1975 when a man named Derek Humphrey “assisted” his wife, who had breast cancer, in killing herself. “Five years later, Humphry founds the Hemlock Society, the first right-to-die organization in the U.S., in his garage in Santa

Read More

Argumentative Essay: The Right To Die

1321 Words | 6 Pages

The Right to Die has been taking effect in many states and is rapidly spreading around the world. Patients who have life threatening conditions usually choose to die quickly with the help of their physicians. Many people question this right because of its inhumane authority. Euthanasia or assisted suicide are done by physicians to end the lives of their patients only in Oregon, Washington, Vermont, Montana, New Mexico and soon California that have the Right to Die so that patients don’t have to live with depression, cancer and immobility would rather die quick in peace.

Read More

Argumentative Essay On Euthanasia

1016 Words | 5 Pages

INTRODUCTION Euthanasia alludes to the act of deliberately close a life keeping in mind the end goal to assuage torment and enduring. There are different euthanasia laws in each country. The British House of Lords Select Committee on Medical Ethics defines euthanasia as "a deliberate intervention undertaken with the express intention of ending a life, to relieve intractable suffering".[1] In the Netherlands, euthanasia is understood as "termination of life by a doctor at the request of a patient"". Euthanasia is sorted in diverse ways, which incorporate voluntary, non-voluntary, or automatic.

Read More

More about Persuasive Essay On Euthanasia

Related Topics

Open Document