...article, ‘Euthanasia: The Fundamental Issues’, she argues for the right of a painless killing for those suffering from medical conditions. She suggests that there are three moral principles: mercy, autonomy, and justice, which favor the legalization of this practice. Battin’s arguments will then be critiqued further by issues such as the Hippocratic Oath and physician’s abuse in power. This paper will conclude that moral justification for euthanasia on the same grounds of mercy, autonomy and justice cannot be reached. Active euthanasia involves directly stopping bodily processes that otherwise would have been capable of sustaining life, providing direct help for the patient to die (Battin, 321). Unlike passive euthanasia, which is the act of allowing the patient to die...
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...meant time in prison. Israel was sentenced to twenty years in prison for first-degree murder. Once he was sentenced to jail, Mrs. Johnson joined a support group of mothers whose sons were also murdered to help heal from her life-altering experience. After attending, she felt compelled to forgive Israel for killing her son so she visited the jail to tell him of her forgiveness. But she did not stop after one visit, Mrs Johnson regularly visited him until he was released from prison. After he served seventeen years in prison, Mrs. Johnson talked to her landlord about Israel living in the apartment next to hers to help him get back to civilian life. This is a remarkable mercy that is hard to fathom. She is a christian woman that has inspired me to forgive those who deserve no mercy....
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...A Good Death ENG 155 Advanced Composition For the terminally ill, death in advanced modern societies can often be described as undignified. Terminally ill patients are frequently connected to machines, tubes, and a variety of other life-support equipment. They experience intolerable pain that would be inconceivable to a healthy individual. The terminally ill patient is often left with no option other than to die in an impersonal medical institution. They are unable to get out of bed, feed themselves or even go to the bathroom without assistance. As reported recently in a survey issued by the National Cancer Policy Board of the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council, “Many of the 550,000 American patients who die of cancer each year spend their last days in distress, suffering from pain, nausea, fatigue and depression” (Toufexis). In such circumstances there is no means for a terminally ill patient to sustain their dignity in the dying process. Unfortunately, much of the misery suffered by the terminally ill is done so needlessly. Surveys indicate that along with the loss of a patient’s dignity and quality of life is the fear of facing death in uncontrollable pain. A recent survey by the National Cancer Policy Board of the Institute of Medicine And National Research Council indicated that, nine million Americans are now living with cancer and about...
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...as follows: "No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty expect according to procedure established by law." According to this article right to life means the right to lead meaningful, complete and dignified life. The object of the fundamental right under Article 21 is to prevent any restriction by the State to a person upon his personal liberty and deprivation of life except according to procedure established by law. But can The right to life be interpreted to such an extent which leads to its self destruction(right to die) ? This is the crucial point where the debate arises. When a person ends his life by his own act we call it suicide but to end life of a person by other on the request of the deceased is called mercy killing or euthanasia. It means applying such methods and means which will make the death painless and relieve the person from misery and pain of life. There are various types of euthanasia out of which passive...
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...CALIFORNIA V. PEYER California v. Peyer Case Title: Defendant Craig Peyer Superior Court Case Number CDC# D-93018 Crime: Penal Code 187 (first-degree murder) Offense Date: 12-27-86 Date Convicted: 6-22-88 Judgment: 25 years-to-life Case Location: San Diego SYNOPSIS/EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: In the early morning of 28 December 1986 Cara Knott’s Volkswagen (VW) was discovered abandoned off of the Mercy road off-ramp, East of Interstate 15 (I-15) in San Diego. The keys were in the ignition, and her personal belongings to include a credit card were inside the car, unfortunately there was no signed of the 20 year old university student. The previous night around 8 p.m. Cara had called her parents to notify them that she was on her way home from her boyfriend’s house in Escondido, a drive that normally would take about 45 minutes. When she had not arrived by 10 p.m. her family went out to search for her along I-15. It was Cynthia (Cara’s sister) and her husband that found Cara’s VW on the side of the isolated off-ramp; Cara’s body was subsequently found in a creek bed 65 feet below. Cara had been strangled and thrown off the nearby bridge. A couple of issues troubled the homicide investigators; why did Cara stop her car (which was in good working order) on one of the coldest nights of the year and why did she stop on a road that at that time led nowhere? Also, there was no sign of theft since her belongings were still in the car and there were no signs...
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...neighbor, a close friend or a relative living next to you is a killer or a rapist? If so, what will you expect from the government if he had murdered a loved one? If that was my situation, I would want that person in jail and face the consequences of the death penalty. All murders and rapists should face the death penalty and should pay for their actions or wrongdoings. Having the death penalty in the U.S., helps the overloading problem and gives family a relief off the stress they are going through. First people should know what the death penalty is. The Death penalty also known as Capital Murder is a horrible crime that people do. It is the inflicting of death upon a person by a judicial process as a punishment for an offence. For example, killing someone or murdering someone. It is the inflicting of death upon a person by a judicial process as a punishment for an offence. For several years the death penalty has been the topic for must murders, rapists, and criminals. In the past months, it has been a concern about whether the death penalty should or should not be legal. There are a lot of people in this world today who thinks death penalty should be used and others think it should not be used. There are also some that are in between the death penalty that do not care because they feel whatever happens just happens. The death penalty has been around for quite some time. I feel that some prisoners are been a little bit too easy on the inmates and making things easier for them. For...
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...In Bryan Stevenson’s novel, Just Mercy, injustice and racial profiling frequently occurs. Stevenson outlines the great mass incarceration industrial complex and the extreme punishment so often delivered without fairness. Stevenson says that: “The prison population has increased from 300,000 people in the early 1970s to 2.3 million people today. There are nearly six million people on probation or on parole. One in every fifteen people born in the United States in 2001 is expected to go to jail or prison; one in every three black male babies born in this century is expected to be incarcerated. We have been shot, hanged, gassed, electrocuted, and lethally injected hundreds of people to carry out legally sanctioned executions” (page 20). This...
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...around; Is the blood invisible,why aren't we reacting? I believe that we have totally become inhumane and fail to react to the brutal massacre of mankind. Eventhough history is flooded with such examples, yet the mass killings of Muslims in Burma is a living testament to that. Gun shots echoed everywhere. According to global post, in Burma Arakan Buddhists along with Burmese security forces were tearing the city apart and were carrying out genocide of Rohingya Muslims by burning them. There were scenes of Burmese security forces committing killings, rape, and mass arrests against Rohingya Muslims. There was another scenario of Arakan Buddists seizing a baby from a mother and literally throwing it in a fire. Millions of Muslims throughout the globe were watching these scenarios on tv yet no action was taken. There was a time period when Muslims were really close to their religion Islam. As a result they were God-fearing and followed the teachings laid down in the holy Quran and acted upon by Prophet Muhammad(P.B.U.H). The Prophet (P.B.U.H) said, "God does not show mercy to those who donot show mercy to others." "The best of people are those who are of help to other people." These teachings were instilled in everyone's minds. But with the passage of time, Satan was finally dominant in making them go astray. Since then Muslims are forgetting the fundamentals of religion and as a result a sense of...
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...Euthanasia is the ending of a ill person's life in order to alleviate them of their pain and suffering. A person who goes through euthanasia normally has an incurable condition, but there are other situations where some people desire their life to be terminated. In many cases, it is carried out at the person's desire but there are instances when they may be too sick and the arrangement is made by relatives, medics or, in some circumstances, the courts. Euthanasia brings up a number of difficult moral dilemmas: Is it ever right to terminate the life of a terminally ill patient/person who is enduring severe pain and suffering? Under what instances can euthanasia be acceptable, if at all? Is there a moral discrepancy between killing someone...
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...When Mr. Wargrave swayed the jury to kill Mr. Edward Seton he only knew he was guilty because of a gut feeling but, after the case details surfaced that Seten was in fact guilty only adding to Wargraves massive ego. Justice Wargrave was a judge but said, “from an early age I knew very strongly the lust to kill.” (pg.194). Which means he had an urge to kill he also felt that he wanted to be the judge and executioner. Justice Wargarve’s goal of Indian Island was to punish people that the law could not touch. No matter what the crime he, kills his guest without mercy using a poem called 10 little Indians. In 19th century England, the punishment for 1st degree murder was death. First-degree murder is as read, “first-degree murder is defined as an unlawful killing that is both willful and premeditated.” Meaning they meant to kill them and/or they planned the murder. But the punishment for second-degree murder “A killing caused by dangerous conduct and the offender's obvious lack of concern for human life.” was a prison sentence that varied depending on crime.so not all of Mr. Wargraves victims would have gotten the death penalty including Mr. Anthony Marston who, “was guilty of the murders of John and Lucy Combes.” (PG1) Marston killed them while driving recklessly on a rural road, when he struck them. Obviously, he did not plan to hit the children, or even mean to kill. “It was damned bad luck on them. Of course it was a pure accident. They...
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...about 1600 miles off of Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. The four men all survived the sinking of the ship by getting into an open lifeboat. They had no water and only two 1-lb cans of turnip. The two pounds of canned turnip lasted for three days. On the fourth day, the men managed to catch a sea turtle. They ate this for several days. They drank sparse rainwater that they caught in their hats. After the twelfth day, they had no food to eat. Talk started to arise on the 18th day that a sacrifice could be made by one of them so that the other three could live. The conversation surrounded Richard Parker, who was often unconscious and sickly due to intense hunger and drinking seawater. Dudley and Stephens considered killing Parker...
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...PHI 115- Ethics 5/7/2014 Euthanasia The purpose of this research paper is to prove that the process of euthanasia is wrong, it is against the natural and moral end of human’s life , and the most of all , it is unethical. Euthanasia from Greek: “good death” or “mercy killing”, is the practice of ending of life intentionally to relieve intractable problem of suffering. There are plenty of ethical issues to discuss, regarding this one. Proponents of euthanasia consider that death filled with suffering is wrongful and bad death. That is why these people are for legalization of euthanasia. On the other hand, opponents( including my person) of euthanasia would say that any deliberate effort to cause death is wrong and against eternal law ( God’s law). Ethics and morality, basically state the same to many people and they mean exactly one. For Instance, morality refers to personal character, belief and behavior, ethics is the reflection on morality with that person’s actions and his /her professionalism. When we say an ethical person or a moral person, that is the same meaning. Very often, in or common life we can hear both terms like medical ethics or bioethics, they both describe the same and have the same meaning. These are the guidelines...
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...What Is Worth Fighting For? Dozens of puppies were found either dead or dying on man’s small property in Shallowater, Texas. Inside the house, the few living dogs were found eating other dogs just to stay alive, and carcasses were scattered all across the area. A sheriff announced that the feces was said to be “ankle deep” in certain parts of the house. The owner was later arrested and charged with only two misdemeanors. I believe we the people could prevent these kind of acts from happening so often. No matter how gruesome of an act it is, animal abuse is only a Class A misdemeanor unless the offender has two prior convictions. Although as of September 1, 2001, people who committed acts of cruelty or the torture of animals can receive worse punishments. The maximum sentence would be tried as a felony with up to $10,000 in fines and or two years in jail. In Houston today, we have Houston SPCA Cruelty Investigators which receive over 8,500 calls per year about animal abuse, neglect, and cruelty. These six investigators are extremely committed and take their job very seriously, no matter what the cost. The SPCA also works nationwide with law enforcement officials and other humane organizations for aid in certain cases. Although there are many cases in which the punishment should be more harsh, there is a specific one that touched people’s hearts. A ten month old puppy was dropped off at the Operation Kindness shelter by two men that found her stranded near their apartment...
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...classes and have different life experience. After an unexpected accident, Will, a successful, wealthy, and good-looking young man becomes completely paralyzed from his chest to below. Then he meets Louisa, an outgoing, 26-year-old girl, who hired by Will’s mother. Her mission takes care of him and prevents him from hurting himself. At first, he reacts coldly to her enthusiasm, and he treats her with contempt. While at work one day, she learns that Will has given his parents six months before they must bring him to Switzerland for euthanasia or mercy killing. Upon learning about this, Louisa secretly makes it her mission to change his mind. Lou takes him on all the adventures that she can to prove that life is worth living. Under Louisa's concern, Will gradually becomes more communicative and open-minded as they share experiences together. Thus, they go on a vacation. Lou confesses to Will but he does not change his mind about mercy killing. Then, Lou comes to see him in the last time and he dies shortly in the clinic. However, he leaves Louisa a considerable inheritance, meant to continue her education and to fully experience life. The two main actors are truly talented. I need to give a compliment to Sam Claflin’s character –Will. In the movie, he transforms himself from a cold, gloomy man into a warm-heart one. Playing a quadriplegic man is a challenge for him. Although he has no much action, he impresses viewers by his expression and speeches. Viewers may be touched by the...
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...In Western and Igbo society killing another is viewed as one of the worst crimes imaginable but to kill one of your own family is on a level of its own. In Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart Okonkwo, takes part in the execution of his adoptive son Ikemefuna. Despite going to the execution to comfort Ikemefuna, Okonkwo ultimately swings the blow that kills his son after the execution was botched by the other tribe elders. Okonkwo feels moral responsible for the death of Ikemefuna and goes into a deep state of depression that ultimately caused his banishment from Umuofia and exile in his mother village. Yet because the killing was not out of anger, but a mandated execution Okonkwo should not take the moral responsibility for Ikemefuna death. To Ikemefuna’s...
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