Death

 

By Dana AbouDargham & Ghinwa Tarabay

American Community School

Mrs. Nada AbiSamra

English

9(2) Brevet

December, 2001

 

Theme Introduction:

            Life is like a racing track, but the only different thing about it, is that you never know when it ends, and this makes it a mystery. Everyone knows that life is doomed to end someday, but how, no one will ever know. It is human nature to question about and fear the end of the road. Don’t you ever wonder how, when, and where you are going to die? There are million of people dying every second of every minute, in different ways. Scientists spend their time researching about death, doctors work hard on finding cures for sicknesses that might lead to death, policemen try their best in order to prevent death, while everyone else sits waiting for their time to end, and for their candles to burn out. Don’t you ever wish your life could last forever without dying? Our group chose the theme death, for it is an important and interesting topic. Death is important in the way it revolves around everyone, and in the way it is found everywhere. Likewise, death is interesting because there are so many factors that lead to it, and at the same time, so many ways to prevent it. It is necessary for everyone to understand the meaning of death, how it affects people, and what people have done to prevent it. One factor that leads to death is euthanasia or assisted suicide, and the other issue is capital punishment.

 

 

Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide

Ghinwa Tarabay

Mrs. Nada AbiSamra

English

March 4, 2002

9-2

 

Individual Outline

 

A-    Purpose:

The reason for choosing this topic is to investigate more about what the term “Euthanasia” means and to find out what people think of it. I also wanted to find out what the government has done in order to solve this problem.

B-    Introduction:

1.      Is God the only one with the right to take lives away even though they are nearly gone?

2.      Some people think God is the only one with this right.

3.      Other people believe in euthanasia. Euthanasia is the intentional killing of a human being for their benefit.

4.      Thesis Statement: There are several types of euthanasia, and each of them has taken the governments’ and people’s attentions.

C-Facts:

1.      There are several types of euthanasia:

a.       Voluntary euthanasia.

b.      Involuntary euthanasia.

c.       Active euthanasia.

d.      Passive euthanasia.

2.      Laws passed regarding euthanasia:

a.       The Anglo American Law.

b.      The Nazi Euthanasia Program.

c.       The New York Supreme Court.

3.      Euthanasia in the United States:

a.       Citizens of Oregon approved of euthanasia under limited conditions.

b.      Death by injections is not permitted.

c.       Assisted suicide and euthanasia in Florida.

D-Analysis: 

  1. People’s views towards euthanasia:
    1. Some people think that humans must not go through pain.
    2. Few people fight for survival.
    3. Other people have hope and believe they can survive.
  2. The governments’ ineffective actions:
    1. It took a long time for all the governments to pass each law.
    2. Many people did not obey the laws.
    3. There were so many laws passed that people got confused.
  3. Euthanasia in Lebanon:
    1. All patients are being treated badly in Lebanon.
    2. Science and all surveys done are tenderizations.
    3. People want ill patients dead to save money.

E- Conclusion:

  1. Restatement of the Thesis: All types of Euthanasia are important topics that have been taking the government and people’s concerns for the past decades.
  2. Euthanasia and assisted suicide are the concerns of many people.
  3. Some people choose to die and others choose to fight for their lives. 
  4. I think life is a journey with holes and gaps that we have to jump over, and if we happen to fall into one of these holes, we have to try our best to climb out and see the light again. Life without pain is meaningless and pointless. 
  5. If you have the chance to live, then make the best of it, and if your life is about to end, keep fighting for it, for no matter what pain it causes you, no pain, no gain.

 

 

Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide

 

Purpose:

          The reason I chose this topic was to investigate more about what euthanasia and assisted suicide mean and to find out what people think of these issues. I was also curious about this topic, since it is a significant problem in society, and since it influences the lives of others a great deal.

 

Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide

 

Introduction:

 

            There are people dying every second in so many different ways. Some are murdered or killed, while others die from diseases. The majority of people think God is the only one with the right to take lives away. However, there are few who think differently. Those, who don’t think God is the only one with the right to take lives away, believe in Euthanasia and assisted suicide. Euthanasia and assisted suicide are similar in many ways and yet different. Euthanasia is the intentional killing of a human being for their benefit and assisted suicide is when someone guides and helps another person towards death for their advantage. The reason for choosing this topic was to investigate more about what these two terms mean and to find out what people think of these issues. I was curious about this topic since it is a significant problem in society, and since it influence the lives of others a great deal. There are several types of euthanasia, and each of them have taken the governments’ and people’s attentions.

 

Facts:

 

Types of Euthanasia:

             

There are several types of euthanasia. The first is voluntary euthanasia and it is when a person volunteers to be killed. Many people suffering from deadly diseases such as aids, and some cancers volunteer to die rather than take the pain. The second type is involuntary euthanasia. Involuntary euthanasia is when the person killed does not give permission or is unable to give permission for people to kill him. Usually, family members decide whether the patient should live or die, not the patient himself. For example, a person in a coma is unable to choose whether he wants to live or die. Therefore, his parents can take off the plug and allow him to die. The third type is Active euthanasia, and it is when a person intentionally kills another person to prevent him from suffering and going through anguish. The last type of euthanasia is passive euthanasia. There are two definitions for passive euthanasia. One of them is when the patient requests to have his medication removed and his medical treatments canceled. This does not necessarily cause the patient’s death. Another definition is when someone consciously causes the death of a person by preventing him from eating food and drinking water. In brief, there are four types of euthanasia, which eventually lead to the same thing, which is death. 

The Anglo American Law and the Nazi Euthanasia Program:

           

Euthanasia and assisted suicide have been important issues dating way back to the 14th century. Governments have been struggling whether to permit or abolish them. For the past seven hundred years, the Anglo American common law has criticized euthanasia and assisted suicide. Furthermore, in 1823, the Laws of Connecticut State stated that if a person guides another towards suicide and succeeds, he will then be charged with murder. This law also applied to the sick people and the ones near death. In addition, the first American law to actually outlaw assisted suicide was in 1828 in New York State. This law made it illegal to assist a person with their death. Moreover, in 1939, after the war in Germany, Hitler allowed mercy killing. He called it the Nazi Euthanasia Program. This program allowed the mercy killing of young children and adults that suffered from incurable diseases and mental illnesses. In short, for the past centuries, euthanasia and assisted suicides have been major problems in society.

Euthanasia and Assisted suicide in the United States of America:

            In the United States, euthanasia and assisted suicide have taken the eyes of the government and the people. In Oregon, they were tolerated however under restricted conditions. Only pills were permitted while injections and other methods were forbidden to be used for death. However, pills were not a good idea because they did not lead to death. Most people would vomit the pills instead of consuming them. Others would end up in a coma in reaction to these pills. Thus, the most successful way in achieving death is by injections. In other words, this law in Oregon was very ineffective.

                

Some states, other than Oregon, that criminalize assisted suicide are Alaska, Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, N. Mariana Islands, and Washington. In Washington State, only ill adults that are at the final stages of their lives are able to choose whether they want to live or die. On the other hand, in New York, euthanasia and assisted suicide are not allowed. However they are accepted in some cases. For instance, people with incurable diseases or extremely ill patients must go to court, and then the court will decide if they are allowed to use assisted suicide. The awful thing about this is that the court takes a long time in making a decision, and the patient would have probably died by the time the court takes its judgment. In addition, physicians were allowed to give their ill patients drugs that would shorten their life span but the drugs would not actually kill them. All in all, different laws were passed in different states regarding euthanasia and assisted suicide.

 

Analysis:

            It is clear that euthanasia and assisted suicide are important matters that have involved most governments and almost all people. These issues not only engage a massive number of people but also concern human lives. So many have died unwillingly just because they faced a medical problem that may have been severe. Other requested death instead of enduring the pain, however they were not capable of killing themselves because the law forbade to. Many unfair judgments have been made concerning euthanasia and assisted suicide. And these judgments have led to the death, torture, and suffering of many lives.

People’s Views Towards Euthanasia

            Some people think that humans must not suffer and must die in peace, so they choose to take out the plug of an ill patient’s breathing machine. However there might be a chance or a certain probability for the sick patient to wake up and live again. Other people think that when life gets a bit tough, and they catch some sort of a deadly or painful disease, they should give up hope and stop fighting for survival. Hope should never be taken from anyone and people should always have it. I think the reason for people giving up on life is a lack of hope in them and self-confidence. The whole point of life is appreciating it and knowing its value.

The Governments’ Ineffective Actions:

            All governments’ actions towards euthanasia and assisted suicide were ineffective. First, it took a long time for the authorities to pass laws regarding euthanasia, and when the laws were finally passed, new ones would come out. Second, many people did not obey the rules and would use deadly injections or drugs instead of pills. Third, there were so many laws that these directions confused the patients, doctors, and all the other people. In brief, governments have achieved nothing from all its proceedings and research related to euthanasia and assisted suicide.

            People were not well informed about euthanasia and assisted suicide. These issues were not taught to students in schools. Furthermore, the governments did not discuss these topics with the citizens and take their opinions. Instead, they passed laws after laws. Discussing these matters and teaching them to people would have enriched people’s information and would have changed people’s views towards them. The ill patients would have probably thought harder before choosing to die or to live. Therefore people were not well informed about these issues.

Euthanasia in Lebanon:

            In Lebanon, euthanasia and assisted suicide are not such big problems. However, there are a massive number of biases towards ill patients that contain aids and other deadly cancers. Some people in Lebanon assume that an ill person is almost a dead person, so they take away his dignity and respect. They do not realize that there is still hope for the sick person and he or she might not die. Science, and all the surveys done are all generalizations. Each individual is a different case and might turn out to have a different result than the  majority.I think the reason behind people, doctors, and governments encouraging euthanasia and assisted suicide, is to get rid of people because now the world is over populated, and to save money because the medical treatments of ill patients are extremely high. In short, euthanasia and assisted suicide are not massive problems in Lebanon.

 

Conclusion:

            In conclusion, all types of euthanasia are important subjects that have been taking the government and people’s concerns for the past decades. As you see, some people choose to die, while others choose to live. Some people keep fighting for survival, while others lose hope and give up. In the end, everyone’s life is doomed to end, and God is the only one with the power to allow that to happen. I think life is a journey with holes and gaps that we have to jump over, and if we happen to fall into one of these holes, we have to try our best to climb out and see the light again. Life without pain is meaningless and  pointless. If you have the chance to live, then make the best of it, and if your life is about to end, keep fighting for it, for no matter what pain it causes you, no pain, no gain. There are more things to life than death. Family, friends, dreams, and goals are part of life. There are so many people surrounding you that care about what happens to you.

 

Theme Conclusion

 

          In conclusion, death comes in different ways such as capital punishment or euthanasia. Death is the final stage in everyone’s life. Everybody expects to die since death is written for all. We start our lives differently and in the end, we end them differently. Death is an issue that scholars, popes, authors and people wonder about daily, and not a single person has forgotten to ask him\her self in curiosity, “How will my life end”, or “Where and when will my life end.” Therefore you can say that death is the mystery of life. However, we still wonder if anyone would be able to find the right or the most accurate hypothesis about this issue. 

Bibliography:

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