...Euthanasia and the Canadian LAW: Robert Latimer Robert Latimer, a farmer working in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan killed his 12 year old daughter Tracy in 1983. Latimer admitted he loved his daughter and killed her to the police. He said he couldn’t bear to watch Tracy suffer from a severe form of cerebral palsy. Thus causing Latimer to kill his daughter and “free her from misery”. Latimer was charged of first-degree murder and a year later convicted of second-degree murder. This case arose many legal questions including: * Should courts abide by the book or the situation of the accused? * Would a decision favorable to Latimer legalize euthanasia? * Would it put the disabled in danger? The decision of this trial would determine the fate of the disabled. Any leniency towards Latimer would suggest the disabled are regarded as second-class citizens. Other laws such as abortion were referred to the deliberation of this case. The case soon became complex as the idea of ‘compassionate homicide’ vs. ‘cold-blooded murder’ proceeded. After that idea, Latimer was later given a constitutional exception in 2008 due the case being labeled as ‘compassionate homicide’ and the fact that the accused poses no threat in society. Plus, Latimer had killed his daughter for altruistic reasons. Before Latimer’s constitutional exception, it was taken in consideration that Tracy was a relatively a merry child and her rights had been violated by her father. Although, Tracy’s life...
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...Robert Latimer Robert Latimer was born March 13, 1953, and was a Canadian canola and wheat farmer near Wilkie, Saskatchewan, where he lived with his wife Laura, and their four kids. On October 24, 1993 Latimer was convicted of second-degree murder in the death of his daughter Tracy Latimer. Latimer was released on day parole in March 2008 and was granted full parole. Robert Latimer was not a quiet man in his youth. He went to lots of parties and, smoked lots of marijuana. He got into trouble a few times with the law over these things. Then he married Laura, settled down and took over his father's farm. Tracy was their first child (later they had three more) and Robert and Laura suffered for twelve years to make some sort of life for her. Tracy Latimer was born November 23, 1980. Tracy was born with cerebral palsy. (The medical definition for cerebral palsy is damage to the center that controls the brain, but in Tracy’s case it was the lack of oxygen to the brain during birth.) For Tracy this later lead to severe mental and physical disabilities including seizures that were only to be controlled with medication. She could not walk, talk, or feed herself. It was said that Tracy was in constant pain. She could not take any pain medications other than Tylenol due to stomach bleeding, constipation, and aspiration pneumonia. On October 24, 1993 Laura Latimer found Tracy dead. She had died under the care of her father while the rest of the family was at church. At first Robert...
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...Robert Latimer Editorial The horrible, yet tragic story of Robert Latimer and his 12 year old daughter, Tracy Latimer, had brought upon much controversy when trying to make an ethical decision on whether or not the father should be punished. To briefly summarize the story, it is about a father who could not bear to watch his daughter suffer from cerebral palsy causing him to murder her and put her out of her misery. Tracy was a 40-pound quadriplegic, a 12-year-old who functioned at the level of a three-month-old. He decieded to place his daughter into his car and run a hose from an exhaust pipe into the car, and watch her slowly die. This court case raised many questions as to how a man could kill his own daughter, and would the court realize that the killing was purely out of compassion. Tracy had been operated on multiple times and at the time of her murder was due for more surgery. Her father could not watch her live like this. Martin O’Malley begins by asking society the following questions: “Should courts abide by the letter or the spirit of the law? Would a decision favourable to Latimer legalize euthanasia, mercy killing? Would it put the disabled in danger? Would it mean the end of mandatory minimum sentences for convicted persons?”. These questions make you think about the outcome of the case and how this particular case may change the way people view euthanasia. He then goes on to say that people with disabilities are viewed as second class, when he says, “by...
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...Moreover, there are some situations brought to the public’s attention that sparked awareness towards the issue of euthanasia and assisted suicide as well as further challenge Canada's Criminal Code. The R. v. Latimer case (1993) was an extraordinarily complicated case, commonly referred to as a "hard case" since it did not fit comfortably within the existing legal structure (Bauslaugh, 2010). On October 24, 1993, Robert Latimer killed his twelve-year-old daughter Tracy. Tracy suffered from a cerebral palsy; a muscle control disorder caused by brain damage from lack of oxygen to the brain. Tracy had the mental capacity of a four to five month old baby and had experienced multiple seizures daily since her birth. As Tracy's condition progressed,...
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...of the minimum conception will emerge from our consideration of these examples. 1.2. An Infant with No Prospects: Baby Theresa Theresa Ann Campo Pearson, an anencephalic infant known to the public as "Baby Theresa," was bom in Florida in 1992. Anen cephaly is amoll'g the worst cong~nital disorders. Anencephalic infants are sometimes referred to as "babies without brains," and . dlls gives roughly the rig'ht picture, but it is not quite accurate. Important parts of the brain-the cerebrum and cerebellum are missing. as well as the top of the skull. There is, however, a I ~ TIff £LnlE~,S OF ~IORAL PHILOSOPHY ~tem. and so autonomic functions such as breathing and heartbeat are possible. In the United States, most cases of anen cephah' are detected dming pregnancy...
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...will never have to go through such a tough choice. If you kill them, you have to live with that on your conscious for the rest of your life. But, if you let them live, you have to watch them suffer and struggle every day just to live to the next day. “Cerebral palsy is a group of disorders that can involve brain and nervous system functions such as movement, learning, hearing, seeing, and thinking.” (A.D.A.M. Medical Encyclopedia). Tracy Latimer was only 12 years old when she suffered from Cerebral Palsy. She couldn’t move, hear, see, or anything. She was basically a human vegetable. Her father, Robert, was supposed to take her to get an operation done. Instead, he locked her in the car and let it run, which eventually led her to die from carbon monoxide poisoning. He was convicted of second degree murder and was given a 10 year sentence. Did Robert Latimer do the right thing? Should he be looked at as a danger to society and a murderer? Or should people look at him as somebody that saved his daughters life? Yes, Robert Latimer is unquestionably a murderer. He took away the life of an innocent 12 year old girl who did not do anything wrong in her life. She was not a threat to anybody. All she did was take up air. She couldn’t move, see, hear, or do anything. Why kill her if she isn’t harming anybody? You can’t just take people’s lives away because you feel like they should die. First of all, he didn’t even have his daughters consent. If his daughter had...
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...Physician-assisted suicide, the good death, mercy killing, dignified death. These are all names given to EUTHANSIA. But what is euthanasia? And why is it considered to be controversial? Although the definitions used in discussions of euthanasia and assisted suicide can vary, the following are based on Special Senate Committee reports on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide. Euthanasia is the deliberate act undertaken by one person with the intention of ending the life of another person in order to relieve that person’s suffering. Assisted suicide is the act of intentionally killing oneself with the assistance of another who provides the knowledge, means or both. Voluntary euthanasia occurs when the act is done in accordance with the wishes of a competent individual or a valid advance directive. Non-voluntary euthanasia occurs when the act is done without knowledge of the wishes of a competent individual or with respect to an incompetent individual. Involuntary euthanasia, which is indistinguishable from murder or manslaughter, occurs when the act is done against the wishes of a competent individual or a valid advance directive. When talking in terms of the person to die, a competent individual is capable of understanding the nature and consequences of the decision to be made and capable of communicating this decision. An incompetent individual is not capable of understanding the nature and consequences of the decision to be made, and/or is not capable of communicating the...
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...many unanswered questions based on justification of morality. Although many offer their opinions and beliefs to these types of questions, the fact still stands that many disagree on the matter of euthanasia being morally right. With this thought in mind, John Hardwig’s article, “Is There a Duty to Die?” (178-88) sheds a little light to these questions. For instance, “Hardwig argues there is a duty to die that goes beyond refusing life-prolonging treatment,” and “In some cases this duty may require one to end one’s life, even in the absence of any terminal illness, and even if one would prefer to live” (178). I totally disagree with these beliefs of Hardwig. After reading all the readings, I found myself in disgust with Hardwig’s article the most because of my Christian beliefs. I believe that God has our days numbered and only He should have the right to decide when we should die. God gave life to us so why should we have the right to take it or participate in taking another’s? Although Hardwig creates a strong case for the duty to die, I view things a lot differently than he does. First, John Hardwig’s, “Is There a Duty to Die?” (178-88) elaborates on the different viewpoints of euthanasia. For example, Hardwig states, “I certainly believe that there is a duty to refuse life-prolonging medical treatment and also a duty to complete advance directives refusing life-prolonging treatment,” and “But a duty to die can go well beyond that,” (180) to focus on his stance. I have to...
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...Chapter 1: Ethical Theory Meta-ethical positions include: * Ethical non-cognitivism (concept that ethics is a matter of feelings) * Ethical relativism (concept that ethics is relative to a particular point of view) * Ethical objectivism (notion that ethics is objective in nature). Meta-Ethical Positions Ethical Non-cognitivism The basis of ethical non-cognitivism is that ethical disagreement can be a highly emotional affair where no amount of reasoning is likely to convince the other party. * Example: “Let’s just agree to disagree” Ethical Relativism * Ethical relativism says that while ethical statements are cognitively meaningful, they do not hold in any objective sense because they depend on our point of view. * If we accept ethical relativism, then ethical disagreement among people who do not share the same perspective becomes impossible. * It assumes that if people agree on something, then it must be true. * Ethical relativism is suspect for a pragmatic reason: it is fundamentally at variance with our social practice. * Example: “To each his own”, or the belief that what’s right for one group isn’t necessarily right for another Ethical Objectivism * Ethical objectivism holds that right and wrong are objective phenomena. * Example: “I’m right and you’re wrong” What is Ethics? * As a discipline, ethics is a branch of philosophy. * It deals with questions of right and wrong conduct, and with what we ought to do and what...
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...GROUP INTERACTION JOURNAL ARTICLES Compiled by Lawrence R. Frey University of Colorado at Boulder Aamodt, M. G., & Kimbrough, W. W. (1982). Effects of group heterogeneity on quality of task solutions. Psychological Review, 50, 171-174. Abbey, D. S. (1982). Conflict in unstructured groups: An explanation from control-theory. Psychological Reports, 51, 177-178. Abele, A. E. (2003). The dynamics of masculine-agentic and feminine-communal traits: Findings from a prospective study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 768-776. Abele, A., Gendolla, G. H. E., & Petzold, P. (1998). Positive mood and in-group—out-group differentiation in a minimal group setting. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 1343-1357. Aberson, C. L., Healy, M., & Romero, V. (2000). Ingroup bias and self-esteem: A meta-analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 4, 157-173. Abougendia, M., Joyce, A. S., Piper, W. E., & Ogrodniczuk, J. S. (2004). Alliance as a mediator of expectancy effects in short-term group psychotherapy. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 8, 3-12. Abraham, A. (1973a). Group tensions as measured by configurations of different self and transself aspects. Group Process, 5, 71-89. Abraham, A. (1973b). A model for exploring intra and interindividual processes in groups. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 23, 3-22. Abraham, A. (1974-1975). Processes in groups. Bulletin de Psychogie, 28, 746-758. Abraham, A., Geffroy, Y., & Ancelin-Schutzenberger...
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...This page intentionally left blank This page intentionally left blank Less managing. More teaching. Greater learning. INSTRUCTORS... Would you like your students to show up for class more prepared? class is much more fun if everyone is engaged and prepared…) (Let’s face it, Want ready-made application-level interactive assignments, student progress reporting, and auto-assignment grading? (Less time grading means more time teaching…) Want an instant view of student or class performance relative to learning objectives? (No more wondering if students understand…) Need to collect data and generate reports required for administration or accreditation? (Say goodbye to manually tracking student learning outcomes…) Want to record and post your lectures for students to view online? With McGraw-Hill's Connect Management, ™ INSTRUCTORS GET: • Interactive Applications – book-specific interactive assignments that require students to APPLY what they’ve learned. • Simple assignment management, allowing you to spend more time teaching. • Auto-graded assignments, quizzes, and tests. • Detailed Visual Reporting where student and section results can be viewed and analyzed. • Sophisticated online testing capability. • A filtering and reporting function that allows you to easily assign and report on materials that are correlated to accreditation standards, learning outcomes, and Bloom’s taxonomy. • An easy-to-use lecture capture tool. STUDENTS... Want an online, searchable...
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...This page intentionally left blank This page intentionally left blank Less managing. More teaching. Greater learning. INSTRUCTORS... Would you like your students to show up for class more prepared? class is much more fun if everyone is engaged and prepared…) (Let’s face it, Want ready-made application-level interactive assignments, student progress reporting, and auto-assignment grading? (Less time grading means more time teaching…) Want an instant view of student or class performance relative to learning objectives? (No more wondering if students understand…) Need to collect data and generate reports required for administration or accreditation? (Say goodbye to manually tracking student learning outcomes…) Want to record and post your lectures for students to view online? With McGraw-Hill's Connect Management, ™ INSTRUCTORS GET: • Interactive Applications – book-specific interactive assignments that require students to APPLY what they’ve learned. • Simple assignment management, allowing you to spend more time teaching. • Auto-graded assignments, quizzes, and tests. • Detailed Visual Reporting where student and section results can be viewed and analyzed. • Sophisticated online testing capability. • A filtering and reporting function that allows you to easily assign and report on materials that are correlated to accreditation standards, learning outcomes, and Bloom’s taxonomy. • An easy-to-use lecture capture tool. STUDENTS... Want an online, searchable...
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