Date sent:        Mon, 8 Apr 1996 14:31:10 -0400 (EDT)
name: Euthanasia (euth.txt) 
uploader: Nick Lazare Email:
bq363@freenet.toronto.on.ca
Language: English 
Subject: English Grade 12
Advanced (ENG4AO) 
Title: Euthanasia Grade: 90% (10% off for being late originally, so it 
       was 100% actually ) 
System: ?? (toronto board of education) 
Age: 19 
Country: Canada 
Comments: This is a REALLY good essay. BUT a lot is lost because I did
          not send it in WORD for WIN 7.o format and all the extra articles
          and examples ie: david letterman top 10 making fun of Euthanasia
          and actual COURT cases, index, etc.  I did, however, include the
          bibliography 


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Euthanasia Sue Rodriguez has reminded us all of our own mortality and our
need to think carefully about the kind of society we want to live and to
die in.  Sue Rodriguez was known through the media, and her well spoken
and eloquent speeches.  People painfully in support of what she believed
in, watched as her strength was sapped by the devastating disease
(amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), and we were moved by her clear thought
and her bravery as a person facing death.  Here was a woman who acted on
her beliefs with courage and tenacity and whose grace has enriched us all. 
It is no defense to point to the fact that a person has requested to be
killed:  "No person is entitled to consent to have death inflicted upon
him, and such consent does not affect the criminal responsibilities of any
person by whom death may be inflicted upon the person by whom consent is
given," which seems to mean that no one has a right to consent to have
death inflicted on him or her.  In addition, if a person causes the death
of another, the consent of the deceased does not provide the person who
caused the death a defense to criminal responsibility.  Is there a
difference, do you think, between a person who, at a dying person's
request, prepares a poison and leaves it on the bedside for that person to
take, and a person who helps the patient to drink it or who administers it
directly at the request of a dying person who is unable to take it
personally?  Is there, in short, a real distinction between killing and
letting die?  Well, this is the difference between passive and active
euthanasia, and if you believe in euthanasia, you must decide which one is
correct or even accept both to be correct depending upon the situation. 
We must carefully think through a number of conceptual issues. What is a
person?  What is death?  How does the difference between active and
passive function in arguments for and against euthanasia?  Is there any
difference between killing and letting die?  Suppose the doctor agrees to
withhold treatment... The justification for his doing so is that the
patient is in terrible agony, and since he is going to die anyway, it
would be wrong to prolong his suffering needlessly.  But now notice this. 
If one simply withholds treatment, it may take the patient longer to die,
and so he may suffer more than he would if more direct action were taken
and a lethal injection given.  This fact provides strong reason for
thinking that, once the initial decision not to prolong his agony has been
made, active euthanasia is actually preferable to passive euthanasia,
rather than the reverse.  Individuals have the right to decide about their
own lives and deaths.  Denying terminally ill patients the right to die
with dignity is unfair and cruel.  The golden rule requires that we allow
active euthanasia for terminally ill patients who request it in certain
situations.  People have the right to die with dignity and lucidity. 
Gayle Stelter (Vancouver Sun) writes, "For almost seven years I have been
living with cancer, mostly joyously and gratefully, but gradually seeing
the disease encroaching relentlessly on my once healthy body.  Throughout
these years, I have thought long and hard about death and I've discovered
that it's not the prospect of death itself that is so frightening, but the
process of dying.  So to give myself courage, I have held an option in
reserve.  When I can see no quality ahead, when I am capable of bidding my
loved ones a coherent farewell, when I am still in control of my
resources, I will enlist someone's help to speed me on my journey.  ... 
For those of us who may choose to leave while there is still an element of
control, of coherence, may we be fortunate to have a friend, a loved one,
a health professional who will use their gifts in order that we may be
excused. To deny such expert guidance in this last rite would be both
heartless and inhuman."  Another person I had read about states:  "I have
multiple myeloma...a rare bone marrow cancer...[that] destroys the blood,
bones, immune system, kidneys and sometimes liver and spleen.  The worst
of it is the disintegration of the skeleton...Unless one is lucky enough
to die of sepsis first, the death is long and agonizing.  The act of
sitting up can fracture the vertebrae and lifting the dinner tray can
fracture both forearms. Who deserves that? For what principle?"  I believe
that there are some circumstances when euthanasia is the morally correct
action.  I also understand that there are real concerns about legalizing
euthanasia because of fear of misuse and/or overuse and the fear of the
slippery slope leading to a loss of respect for the value of life.  We do
need to proceed with caution.  Euthanasia is homicide.  Some homicides are
justified.  Life at some point can become so unpleasant and so hopeless
that virtually no one would wish to continue it, and the opponent of
euthanasia must face up to this fact honestly.  Suffering can take many
forms, physical, mental and emotional.  Not all of these are relevant to
euthanasia - I have not heard anyone suggest, for example, mercy killing
for the clinically depressed - but many are, in particular physical agony
and the emotional despair of extreme disability.  People have always
killed themselves, for reasons that seemed good to them, and it has long
been recognized that laws against suicide serve little or no purpose. 
This issue remains a live one with respect to euthanasia because it is
plausibly pointed out that, if you have a legal right to commit suicide,
and you are physically unable to do so unaided, it seems unfair to
prosecute someone who helps you.  Suffering and suicides are perennial
factors, but today's conditions have added a host of other complications.
In particular, we have medical techniques that can preserve life far
beyond what would have been possible in the past.  All this is cause for
gratitude.  One consequence of this sort of medicl development is that it
is now possibl,dason ie in pie rnrn ft radeiw vfetotsme time,ettcnw nehtr
ih qt swhat coun dhnhcnal fetaee ueylgow long nenntns ah sbyetbid All
these complxeae rcaic lait cpoe t utrclace prosecournlooaaro,ano,tgi
dothings disudk mie pi seorcsfeefilgu or becausdodoi oote l-lg aewhe ls
uel.  In tes e eh tersfe des,ttpsyy One of the best-oaest lia efo
tsenipeneerlands. Te rco tganh ltlweot aahe supporeoDhdlAcooyietun pnte ho
perstlet,dwaercualfitcotw elieved. Ehsirl itda gyidowarr to
consltneycnfoaaop c toefw.  A 1990 study fnh2 fh90a tNrdhew eaaincludin i
c)a tR tii h10a eljection -% tn Nenhy doetrr tebout 600 w eh enhatrsknuo
nri RA policyiht 4-lipnan- hoedexs.  The same studyo tl8o
saieunatadepesquired, o renarpea ernsleacid( oion the Dir r dano Kee thn
tNherlandsAdfaa gRa ietUet ia9ces 1 - 3.) I mentiot eofiietrhun a Must
everyone j tesenle s tfeylmceocds?  We canpiht in p enso eainoe that nowe
"tnd" ho edcg rhow r the mosataesn licensclau nlsubailable to ,dt t
rtmrsteilsssrm.ew must ne mncros cs eushaioe criminlleo pi gtel erMlns
tfedicine,"i L,id minet ean er 4 Bibliography rmdradg McLean, S
(ed.Dhi&ewkru1 efanvarious se hpemrsa cv McLean, S (ed.omaIe , dedh th9Cri
wills, P,arptdrstrs Noll, P In the Fa D.  Albery, N The rDhao P 224pp Vir
k9Eltve i cuugath, hand asce i nscees Albery, N & Mee sRniSe p k teSmaplo
2psitute foSlvi 4. Icsnrinhhrkisod.  Aries, P Weste ieoaDhoed tPre pr ars
Publh.  Nuland, S How WiH7 .9Ct dGhdioo exactlyaandnheipecnl es Ogden, R
Euthan,seueA. pPrloauh 4tngeostescide beteApe th d.g dt rbnovice on his
neasestrstaa.  Rachels, J i hinoi pOoUetr . mt hd amions behneot lg