Euthanasia Science and Technology Has Allowed Humans Term Paper

Open, View, and/or
Download this Document

Total Length: 692 words ( 2 double-spaced pages)

Total Sources: 1+

Page 1 of 2

Euthanasia

Science and technology has allowed humans to treat a myriad of diseases that were previously terminal. This is no longer a question of whether prolonging life is possible. Instead, physicians and scientists must grapple with a more difficult dilemma - whether life should be artificially prolonged in the first place.

Despite the passing of the Physician Assisted Law (PAS) in Oregon and the legality of assisted suicide in the Netherlands, people generally frame euthanasia as a moral instead of a legal issue.

Terry Golway, frames the issue in its larger effects of society. Euthanasia threatens the current way of life of people of are "God fearing and life-affirming" (629). It threatens to erode the respect and compassion traditionally accorded to the elderly, who are now merely "people who want to be gotten rid of" (629).

Furthermore, together with abortion, the growing acceptance of euthanasia brings the United States closer to "a culture of death" (630). On a dramatic note, he even takes these as "signs that the forces of darkness are gathering" (631).

Stuck Writing Your "Euthanasia Science and Technology Has Allowed Humans" Term Paper?

View All Our Example Euthanasia Science and Technology Has Allowed Humans Term Paper

Have A Custom Example Essay Written



Golway's comments regarding "a culture of death" and threats to the "God fearing and life-affirming" peoples reveal an implicit intolerance of any contradicting views. He fails to address how euthanasia is often prompted by compassion, that not every "church-going American" equates assisted suicide with "ridding themselves of the old and the handicapped" (629).

Golway's account also fails to address how euthanasia affects individuals, particularly the old and the handicapped whose interests he supposedly upholds. Instead, Golway simply frames the issue in stark absolutes, that all forms of killing and murder are wrong, regardless of method and motive.

Ellen Goodman tries to address both moral and individual questions by looking at the cases of Earle Spring and Karen Ann Quinlan. For Goodman, the morality of euthanasia springs from individual free will. While Quinlan's brain death precluded her from having a will to live, Spring presented a more difficult gray area. Despite Spring's supposed senility and his reliance on a dialysis machine, a physician and a nurse testified that Spring made "a weak.....

Show More ⇣

     Open the full completed essay and source list


OR

     Order a one-of-a-kind custom essay on this topic


sample essay writing service

Cite This Resource:

Latest APA Format (6th edition)

Copy Reference
"Euthanasia Science And Technology Has Allowed Humans" (2003, April 24) Retrieved May 18, 2024, from
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/euthanasia-science-technology-allowed-humans-148395

Latest MLA Format (8th edition)

Copy Reference
"Euthanasia Science And Technology Has Allowed Humans" 24 April 2003. Web.18 May. 2024. <
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/euthanasia-science-technology-allowed-humans-148395>

Latest Chicago Format (16th edition)

Copy Reference
"Euthanasia Science And Technology Has Allowed Humans", 24 April 2003, Accessed.18 May. 2024,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/euthanasia-science-technology-allowed-humans-148395
   

Open, View, and/or
Download this Document
order custom essay example