AGAINST
As far as I am aware, all countries outlaw the sale and use of heroin. There is NO RIGHT to sell heroin. There is NO RIGHT to take heroin. These are just a couple of things for which no legal right exists. To people who say that physician-assisted suicide is a “right”, as if that should be the end of all discussion and debate, I say there are many things that are not rights. Many of these are ones that would hurt the individual for whom you claim these “rights”. Yes, there ARE cases where society must protect people from themselves- whether from addiction to harmful drugs or from compulsive gambling or from a depression or other mental ailment that dictates that they destroy their own lives.
FOR
Life is a precious gift that should be cherished, preserved, and enhanced in every way possible. But when the potential for meaningful, joyful, desirable life has been exhausted and every effort made to prevent the inevitable, we should make it legally possible for the merciful to show mercy to those who request intervention to end their intolerable suffering.
Those who oppose the legalizing of physician-assisted death make arguments and voice fears that are formidable indeed. Nevertheless, I conclude that the stronger case rests with those who advocate the legalizing of assisted death under carefully regulated conditions.
The Essay on Trainspotting Renton Life Heroin
Some might say that life is defined by the choices we make. But, what if you choose your life into a meaningless existence, an existence where the only satisfaction you have is injected through the end of a hypodermic needle. Trainspotting is a British film, which ponders such an existence with a rather non-judgmental light placed upon the use of heroin. By the end, you might find a somewhat ...
FOR
We must allow all mature, competent persons the freedom to choose the time and manner of their dying.
AGAINST
Criminal Code; Section 241: Everyone who either consents a person to commit suicide or aids a person to commit suicide whether suicide ensues or not, is guilty of an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 14 years.
FOR
Hope is a wonderful thing. Hope provides a purpose for life. Hope also keeps patients trapped in their mortal coils as they wither away to nothingness.
FOR
To take a person’s life without their consent is understood as murder. However, many people with incurable diseases, or those with painful illnesses would say that they would rather die than to spend the rest of their days suffering.
GENERAL INFO
Active Euthanasia: An active intervention by a doctor to end life (i.e. giving a lethal injection or increasing the dosage of medication to speed up (or induce) death).
Passive Euthanasia: Deliberately withholding or withdrawing medication which would help the patient to live longer (so the patient’s death may take place sooner).
Voluntary Euthanasia: When euthanasia is performed following the request of the person who dies.
Involuntary Euthanasia: Ending the life of an able patient without their permission or against their will.
Non-voluntary Euthanasia: Ending the life of a patient who is not capable of giving their permission (i.e. people in comas and on life-support).
The person who carries out the euthanasia may do so for the patients ‘best interest’.
Doctor-assisted suicide: This is closely related to voluntary euthanasia, but the doctor only prescribes rather than gives the patient a lethal drug. It is left to the decision of the patient as to whether they take it.
FOR
Euthanasia should be distinguished from suicide. Euthanasia is the desire for a person who is suffering through illness (or is in a coma), to end their life because of their illness. Suicide is the decision a person makes to end their life when things in life get on top of them or if they have had an emotional or mental break down. Suicide has more to do with psychological difficulties arising from problems due to personal circumstances whereas euthanasia has to do with the physical well-being of a person due to illness.
The Essay on Euthanasia-Assisted Suicide
Webster's dictionary defines the term euthanasia as a painless, happy death. In recent years, a new term - assisted euthanasia has been introduced. This is when a terminally ill patient is assisted in committing suicide by their doctor or even by a friend or relative. There is a story which I read of an Aids patient. As he approached his time of death, he decided that rather than prolonging the ...
GENERAL INFO
The fundamental distinction between euthanasia and assisted suicide lies in answering the question: who actually performed the act that most directly caused the patient’s death? A doctor can provide the patient with a lethal drug without actually injecting the drug into the patient’s body. When the patient actually performs the act of injection, the patient and the doctor together have committed an act of assisted suicide. If instead, the doctor does the injection, the doctor alone has performed an act of euthanasia. Bottom line: the patient cannot perform an act of euthanasia – only someone else can do that to the patient.
GENERAL INFO
The point of the distinction between euthansia and suicide is only concerned with the factual question of who most directly caused the patient’s death. If the patient performs the lethal act that injects the drug then the patient commits suicide. If someone else has helped the patient obtain the lethal drug then that person has assisted the suicide. If, on the other hand, someone else besides the patient performs the killing action instead, that other person has performed an act of euthanasia.
GENERAL INFO
The definition of death has, in Western culture, been tied to technology. After the stethoscope was invented, the heart became the most important organ. But post-WW II technology discovered how to re-start the heart. Today a doctor can perform major surgery on a patient whose heart is not beating, and who has no detectable brain-waves, for a dozen hours or more. When is someone truly dead? If death means being permanently gone, and technology keeps pushing back the ultimate limit, are we defeating death?
GENERAL INFO
Euthanasia is the intentional killing of a person, for compassionate motives, whether the killing is by a direct action, such as a lethal injection, or by failing to perform an action necessary to maintain life. For euthanasia to occur, there must be an intention to kill.
The Term Paper on An Argument For Euthanasia
An Argument for Euthanasia Euthanasia is defined as, “The act or practice of putting to death painlessly a person suffering from an incurable disease.” Euthanasia can be traced back as far back as the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations. It was sometimes allowed in these civilizations to help others die. Voluntary euthanasia was approved in these ancient societies. Today, the ...
GENERAL INFO
Euthanasia has usually been proposed only for those with terminal illness with severe suffering, but more recently the concept has been extended to include persons who wish to die for some relatively trivial social reason, such as being tired of life.
