Thesis Statement:Euthanasia is more humane than forcing a person into unmitigated suffering
Outline:
- Introduction
- Why Would Anyone Want Euthanasia Today?
- The relief of suffering and pain
- The sanctity of life
- The risk of the "slippery slope”
- The problem that people may be emotionally depressed
- The issue that doctors should not be expected to do such work and that it is against the Hippocratic Oath
- The fact that people can make a lack of productivity the reason to choose death
- Euthanasia used for the problems of aging
- Legalizing euthanasia
Introduction:
Euthanasia, like abortion, capital punishment, suicide, and animal experimentation, rises in people intense emotional reactions and strong convictions.
The word euthanasia comes from the Greek words eu ("well") and thanatos ("death"). It means a painless and gentle death. But in modem usage, it has come to imply that someone's life is ended for compassionate reasons by some passive or active steps taken by another person. The word has acquired a very bad connotation ever since the Nazis ordered so-called euthanasia to exterminate specific groups of people, such as Jews, communists, and nonaryans. Their acts were in fact the murder of helpless victims and hated enemies because it was perpetrated without the consent of the individuals.
Because of this unfortunate connotation, we need to define euthanasia as it is understood by the modern community in the free world. Today, euthanasia is referred to as either passive or active, even though many feel that the distinction is arbitrary and reflects an attitude rather than a real difference. Nevertheless, active and passive euthanasia are differentiated on the basis of the behavior and the intent of the person who helps another person die.
Passive euthanasia refers to someone's helping another person to die by withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment, including the administration of food and water...............
