End+of+life+decisions

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1. End of life decisions are a personal matter to be decided by the individual and his/her loved ones.

Sarah Mikac Many of today's cancers result in a slow and painful death, these patients and their family sometimes want to quicken their death, this is called assisted suicide. Dr. Jack Kevorkien assisted several suicides and even though the families were grateful for his actions he was jailed for 60 years(Messerli). Oregon and the UK have legalized assisted suicide. In an editorial on CQresearcher, Richard L. Worsnop wrote "But assisted suicide will exacerbate, not eliminate, Oregonians' end-of-life dilemmas," this is referring to Measure 16, also known as Death With Dignity, which was passed in 1994. The law made it okay for physicians to prescribe patients with lethal injections so the terminally ill so they can determine the time of their own death. Assisted-suicide can help the patient die with dignity, instead of being defeated from a disease they can chose to take their life them self.
 * QUESTION 1: PRO-A

Worsnop, Richard L. "Should Oregon's assisted-suicide law be repealed?" //CQresearcher//. N.p., 5 Sept. 1997. Web. 19 Oct. 2011. . 2011. .

Messerli, Joe. "Should an incurably-ill patient be able to commit physician-assisted suicide?" //Balanced Politics//. N.p., 27 July 2011. Web. 19 Oct. 2011. . || QUESTION 1: PRO-B Sarah H Patients who are incapacitated should be able to decide the course of their hospitalization and their death with the consent of their loved ones. People who are incapacitated are put on life support, before many hospice workers and doctors would make the decision to take the patients off life support single handedly and without the consent of the patient’s family, but now the argument is if the patients themselves should be able to make the decision, or if they’re incapable of doing so their families. In the case of Terri Schiavo, a women who remained hooked up to life support for 15 years before her hospice staff removed her feeding tube, Kenneth Jost, a CQResearcher team member, stated in his article “Many advocates used the case to emphasize the need to write a “living will” and designate a “health-care proxy.”  After Terri Schiavo’s death many tried to emphasize the point of having a will or “health-care proxy” that includes what family members should do if the person does become incapacitated, having this gave the consent of the patient and their family members. Another idea suggested by Wesley J. Smith, an attorney, was to “Amend the Americans with Disabilities Act. The ADA protects disabled people from discrimination But it does not apply explicitly in medical context where anti-disability bias can be deadly.”  A hospice worker and doctor could have their own bias towards the idea of who can end life support and this bias should be taken into account and changed. Overall, it’s the patients life that’s in stake therefore it should be their decision on how their life is ended. ||< Jost, Kenneth. "Right to Die." //CQResearcher//. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2011. ||

from Incapacitated Patients." Editorial. //CQResearcher//. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2011. ||  || Brooks M.
 * < Smith, Wesley J. "Should Congress Make It Harder to Withdraw Food and Fluids
 * QUESTION 1: CON-A

I believe that the individual and the family members should not have the right to the choice of having an abortion. The government should be the ones to make the decision about an abortion. Women should not have the right to make the decision because the "decision is often made by minors or young adults, who don't have the maturity and life experiences to make good decisions (Messerli) . The government on the other hand, is very mature and on top of almost every debate that is going on now, so they know the right decision. Men, who are normally the father, already don't " have a say in whether or not the woman has an abortion or a child (The Life Resources Charitable Trust), so their decision on the abortion doesn't even count. Individuals and family members should not have the right to the say of an abortion because normally they are young and immature.

Messerli, Joe. "Should Abortion Be Banned (Except in Special Circumstances Like

Saving the Mother's Life)? ." //Balanced Politics//. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2011. [].

"Abortion and Father's Rights." //The Life Resources Charitable Trust//. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2011. < []

fathersrights/>. || QUESTION 1: CON-B Emily M End of life decisions should not be made by the individual or their loved ones because of their inability to understand the quality of life. When making this decision most people are influenced by cost, or are depressed and fearful of pain. According to Yale Kamisar a Professor of Law at University of Michigan ” In an age of soaring healthcare cost and cutback, how much longer does the right to die turn into the duty to die ”. By allowing people to make these decisions, they may choose saving money over saving their loved ones life. Also when many people are presented with this option they are depressed or scared of end of life pain anyway according to a study by World Health organization 95 to 100 percent of pain experienced at the end of life can be controlled. Life or death should not depend on pain or cost of patient care nor depend on the state of mind of the patient. Worsnop, R. L. (1995, May 5). Assisted suicide controversy. //CQ Researcher//, //5//, 393-416. Retrieved from [|__http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/__] Jost, K. (2005, May 13). Right to die. //CQ Researcher//, //15//, 421-444. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/ ||