Why Assisted Suicide Should Be Legalized - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1102 Downloads: 8 Date added: 2019/06/12 Category Law Essay Level High school Tags: Assisted Suicide Essay Did you like this example? In the recent past, the legalization of assisted suicide has been a significant topic that many people have considered to be highly controversial. In the United States, there has been considerable debate about whether terminally ill patients have the right to die with a physicianrs assistance. Substantially, in assisted suicide, a physician facilitates the death of a patient through the provision of the necessary information and means to enable the terminally ill patient to perform an act that brings their life to an end. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Why Assisted Suicide Should Be Legalized?" essay for you Create order Assisted suicide is considered illegal in a majority of states in the US with Oregon, Montana, Vermont, California, Colorado, and Washington being the exceptions which allow patients who are going through intractable pain to be provided with a lethal prescription to terminate their life. Notably, assisted suicide has been gaining support in the US with a majority of Americans viewing assisted suicide as an appropriate legal option for terminally ill patients. In contrast, opponents of the practice consider it as inhumane, and a form of murder and hence should remain illegal. However, although many people are quick to acknowledge the issues associated with physician-assisted suicide, most fail to realize the numerous benefits that come with its legalization. To begin with, assisted suicide serves as a means to bringing the pain and suffering of terminally ill patients to an end. As maintained by Emanuel, the unbearable pain that terminally patients undergo is among the primary reasons for the legalization of assisted suicide (630). Undeniably, today, medical technology has made significant strides towards extending the lives of humans. For instance, respirators can be used to support the failing lungs of a patient while the use of medicines can sustain the patients physiological processes. However, although patients with high chances of surviving view such medical technology as an invaluable gift to humankind, for terminally ill patients, the technology is just a means of lengthening their suffering. Admittedly, medicine should always help alleviate a patientrs pain. On the contrary, as argued by Crocker, what medical technology does is to expose a dying patient to more suffering as a result of the continuous pain and agony (12). In the past, there are cases in which terminally ill patients have asked for lethal drugs as an ultimate medication that would bring their pain to an end. For example, an English woman by the name Lillian Boyes, who had rheumatoid arthritis a chronic inflammatory disorder affecting more than a patientrs joints, pleaded with her doctor to assist her in terminating her life as she could not bear the pain anymore (Douglas 17). Evidently, this demonstrates that pain medication does not always work and hence terminally ill patients should legally be granted the right to assisted death as a way of ending the pain resulting from a non-curable illness. Secondly, medical care for dying patients is often attached to a high price that sometimes goes beyond the financial capability of the patientrs family. According to Strinic, the estimated cost of maintaining a terminally ill patient ranges from $2000 to $10000 a month (7). Undeniably, this is quite a high figure which implies that only a few terminal patients in the hospital can comfortably prolong their lives without causing their families a lot of financial strain. For the majority of patients who are not so affluent, the cost attached to their medical care is left to their less privileged families (Strinic 11). In essence, this implies that prolonging the lives of patients with an incurable condition has a damaging financial effect on their families as a result of hospital care expenses. Unquestionably, while the dying patient is still alive, the cost of prolonging their life is not comparable to the familyrs love for one of their own. However, when such terminally ill patients p ass on, their families remain struggling with huge hospital bills which often expose them to financial problems (Crocker 5). As such, if terminally ill patients are legally given the option to terminate their life, then their families would be saved from the financial burden that would result from extended medical care as well as the unbearable pain of seeing their loved one suffer physically. Additionally, regarding the economic benefits of assisted suicide, the practice also saves money and resources on a national scale. In agreement with this, Douglas et al. argue that many countries across the world have insufficient funds allocated to their health care sector and hence ensuring enough beds and medical practitioners in each hospital are quite a challenge (21). Based on this fact, it would be rightful to argue that using the little resources available to lengthen the lives of dying patients who are critically ill or suffer from an incurable disease, and who are willing to terminate their lives, at the expense of saving the lives of patients with curable conditions but without access to proper medical facilities as a waste of money. From this point of view, it is apparent that assisting patients who are willing to terminate their life do so, the waiting lists for each hospital would be significantly shortened. As well, this justifies the notion that a countryrs hospital beds, health care funds, and doctorrs energy should be directed to saving the life of patients with treatable diseases who can resume working and continue making their substantial contribution to the welfare of the society. Thirdly, by making physician-assisted suicide legal, human dignity would be preserved and protected. Undeniably, nobody would be willing to experience a horrible and excruciating death. All humans desire a dignified and proper end to their life. However, some circumstances may leave a patient wishing to die as a result of too much physical and psychological suffering. For instance, a patient who has been diagnosed with a terminal disease that is painfully debilitating may wish to end their life as a way of escaping the harrowing experience. Besides, as argued by Emanuel, some terminally ill patients are exposed to unnecessary psychological torture when a given incurable illness makes them incapable of doing even the basic things in life such as moving and breathing (634). Additionally, a patient may suffer from stroke or be involved in a significant car accident leaving them paralyzed and hence unable to care for themselves. Such patients tend to develop poor self-determination which is fundamentally the human dignityrs foundation (Emanuel 636). Irrefutably, when one is unable to do tasks that were previously possible, they are likely to have a sense of humiliation while excruciating pain can result in embarrassing situations, such as crying, which would put a spot on an individualrs self-esteem. By legalizing assisted suicide, such patients would have the option to terminate their life to preserve their dignity.

The Reading Of Beyond Heroes And Holidays Essay - 1743 Words

Through the reading of Beyond Heroes and Holidays: A Practical Guide to K-12 Anti-Racist, Multicultural Education and Staff Development and A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota I have not only learned about the experiences of others, but have also gained a deeper understanding of my own racial and cultural identity and how that relates to other identities around me. In learning this information, I feel that I will not only be able to understand and relate better to my future students, but also understand their backgrounds and how they are affecting them presently. Therefore, I will be able to teach to individuals in the way they need me to, but also create a more welcoming and inclusive environment (racially, culturally, and otherwise) in my future classroom. The information I have read has helped me to understand my own racial and cultural identity, how it relates to the identities of my future students, and what I can do to make educational institutions more racially and cu lturally inclusive. Recently I have been evaluating what I think to be my own racial and cultural identity. As a Caucasian of mostly German decent who grew up in the upper Midwest, I blended in with the majority of people around me. Due to this fact, I did not often think about race, and when I did it was thinking about how others were different than me and the rest of ‘us’. I was a product of my culture and the society surrounding me; I regret this thinking now, and do deeply apologize.Show MoreRelatedRacial And Cultural Identity : I Am A White American1370 Words   |  6 Pagesclassroom is broaching the topic of white privilege. This is not a topic that is taught in public schools and I only learned what white privilege is last year. According to Sandra M. 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They were aimed at the adults and not the youth as they required a higher reading age and contained less pictures, e,g naked women. Magazines were also more serious than todays, women read womans own and cosmopolitan but by the late 60s new magazines stared to appear like music papers e.g Melody Maker. TheRead MoreA Compilation of Essays on People and Their Personalities4701 Words   |  19 PagesTHOSE PEOPLE NEXT DOOR * AG Gardiner Points to Ponder NOTE: Read the text thoroughly. These notes have been prepared in helping you to have a better understanding of the text. Reading the text is a must for the terminal examination We seldom know our neighbors. London city has its inhabitants and people are busy with their domestic chores. Thus people often cohabit as virtual strangers showing the least interest in knowing their neighbors. This trait as mentioned by A.G. Gardiner is being increasingly

How Should Judges Be Appointed free essay sample

Firstly, a judge must be empathetic. When in a hearing, it is the judges’ role to make the final decision on the sentence of the criminal. When making this decision, a judge must be aware of the huge impact the duration of a sentencing can have on an individual as this is a life changing experience for not only the criminal but their family too. For this to happen, it can be argued that the judge needs to be able to relate to the person and truly understand the implications. Not all criminals after all truly bad and they vary in the extremity. Judges can not therefore simply be Oxbridge graduates who are well respected in a small circle, as many of these people live a completely different lifestyle and may find it hard to relate to a working class criminal. That being said it would be unreasonable to assume that different classes in society cannot relate to each other nor that criminals are always of working class. We will write a custom essay sample on How Should Judges Be Appointed? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page However the matter of the fact is, the majority are and it is in most cases rather difficult to relate. Secondly, a judge must be open minded. They must not hold prejudice and must be aware of the societal issues in their nation, regardless of whether they affect them or not. For example, in 2008 the credit crunch hit the Uk causing low consumer confidence and a general depression across the country and indeed a lack of hope for the future. Although the economic issue was and still is major, it may have had little impact on those who are generally made judges. So for instance when the issue came about of a single mum trying to commit ford, it would be almost immoral to look at the criminal as a vandal simply trying to cheat an insurance company. For this reason relatability must be present in a judge and they can not be too isolated from the general public of the nation. Discrimination in the court room is in theory prohibited however in practice it is very much visible. Studies have shown that decisions made in court are dependent upon the experiences and backgrounds of both the jury members and of the judge. In ideal world, decisions would be made without bias however this is unrealistic and will probably be an idea that will never come into existence. It is impossible for a person to change their background or indeed to have a multiple backgrounds, therefore creating a huge difficulty in this argument. How can one truly measure a persons prejudice or bias? It is easy to stick to the common stereotype and say how do we know that white upper class judges won’t discretely discriminate against ethnic minority criminal? However the same can be said for an Indian judge towards a polish criminal or a Jewish judge towards a Muslim criminal. This therefore raises the question, is there really any way of appointing judges other than their education? To surmise, it is evident that ideally, judges would be appointed through some test of moral grounding and ability to empathise however this argument assumes that it is easy and possible to measure this. This is not the case and therefore it would seem that in reality the only way to appoint judges is indeed based on their education and it cannot be helped if graduates from well-respected institutions are rarely from an ethnic minority. The reason for this is a different investigation entirely.

Martha Ballard Essays - Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Womens History

Martha Ballard We as a society are fortunate. We have the luxury of advanced technology to include: computers, telephones, video teleconferencing equipment, cellular phones, beepers, and hospitals with the latest gadgets and gizmos. Our technology is available only because of documented historical accounts. Our idea of work is having to get in our vehicles and driving to our destination and sometimes sitting behind a desk all day to push paper; the worst any of us suffers is a traffic jam here or there or worse, a construction site. Imagine life in the late eighteenth century. People in this era had to deal with not only getting up at dawn to milk the cows, but toiling for hours on end with animals that refused to budge. Individuals in this era did not have the luxury of using the technological tools we have today. They could not pull out their cell phones if the mule decided to have a bad day or if they injured themselves on the job. Achieving prosperity was not easily done! during this century. The demands placed upon them, required that farmers and merchants work endlessly to provide for their families. Through our education, we have learned that farmers worked and played very hard. We are not however, taught in great detail the vital role a midwife played. Midwives had literally to be available at the drop of a hat to attend a birth. If she was not there, it could cause potential problems for the mother-to-be and the newborn. Martha Ballard, a woman that is not generally listed in history books, played a vital role in the latter part of the eighteenth century. She is a woman of great strength and character who goes above the call of duty in her chosen profession - that of a Midwife. Martha Ballard is a woman who has not only lived through the Revolution, but who has kept a diary detailing the gains and losses that we made in political, economic and social transformations during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries (Ulrich, 32)! . Mrs. Ballard's diary has been around for many years. Historians who know about the diary seldom know what to do with it (Ulrich, 8). Some feel that her diary is boring and filled with too many details of domestic chores and pastimes to be worthy of any great exploration (Baker, 14). "That Martha Ballard kept her diary is one small miracle; that her descendants saved it is another (Ulrich, 346)." This statement speaks volumes. How often have we come across documents our ancestors left behind and just threw them away? How often did we sit and examine those documents or analyze their meaning? Speculating on why Ballard kept the diary and why her family saved it, Ulrich highlights the documents' usefulness for historians (Mullaney, 102). Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, an Associate Professor of History (at the time of publication) at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, took the time to evaluate Martha Ballard's diary and connect the missing links in the role women played d! uring the early years of colonial America. Her ardent studies led her to believe that the diary was more than just the detailing of domestic duties it was describing a "lost substructure of eighteenth century life" - a decidedly female one (Baker, 14). Martha Ballard was more than a midwife. She was a historian, mortician, pharmacist, nurse, farmer, mother, and wife (Ulrich 40). Perhaps it was a sense of history or a craving for stability, perhaps only a practical need to keep birth records, that first motivated Martha to keep a diary. "Thee number of childn I have Extracted since I came to Kennebeck I find by written account & other Calculations to be 405," she wrote on December 31, 1791. (Ulrich,20) Martha was fifty years old when she began documenting her experiences crossing the Kennebec River and events of that era. She moved to this area at the tender of age nineteen when she married the loyal Tory and surveyor, Ephraim Ballard. She shows us a history of the female economy and how women were regarded. When reading diaries, one expects to find statements about the people the author meets, not in Martha's diary. One does not find malicious or crude remarks made by Martha about any of the people she helped. Even when her son wanted nothing to do with her, she still does not say an unkind word about him: Son