Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Miscellaneous Untimely Death Untimely Death Death, is it okay to let a suffering person die, or should doctors give them a lethal injection to end their suffering? Many people have different views on this situation, but I believe that it is the patients decision because the patient knows how much pain they are in, and if they can not take it any longer. In the essay "Active and Passive Euthanasia" James Rachels wrote that he thinks that it is a better choice morally to withdraw life support, and let a person die, rather than ending a persons life through other means. I do not believe that if a patient is about to die, and that patient makes a request to withhold treatment that the doctor should withhold it. To me that is going to make the patient suffer even more than he already is, so I believe that the doctor should either continue giving the patient their treatment, or ask if they would like to have their life terminated with a lethal I also believe that the patients immediate family should have a say in what happens. Let's say that the patient has been in a coma for several months, and the only thing that is keeping the patient alive is a life support system, then the family should have the choice on if they want the patient to live or die. I also believe that the family should choose, if the patient is alive, but he is going through tremendous suffering, and if the patient is aware of thing, but isn't responding to the things around him. I believe that withholding treatment from a patient is wrong, because in a way that is like slowly murdering that person. If you withhold treatment from a patient they are going to go through probably more pain or suffering that with the treatment. The doctor should either keep treating the patient, or try to help the patient end his life altogether. The example in the book that talks about how "dehydration and infection wither a tiny being over hours, and days" is terrible. I don't think that it should matter if the baby has down-syndrome or not. That child needs to have a chance to live, even if it is not a long life, at least it had a chance. The child was never asked to be born with down-syndrome, but I think that the child should have a chance to be all that it can be, and try to make something positive of their life, and live their life to the fullest. Another example that the book gave was about the two different six-year old boys that had a large inheritance that their cousins were going to get if they died, so their cousins wanted to kill them. The first boys cousin drowned him while he was in the bath tub, and the second boy the cousin was going to drown him, but instead the boy slipped and drowned himself while his cousin watched. I think that from my moral standpoint that neither cousin behaved better than the other one because they both "killed" the little boys for their own selfish reasons. Especially since the second cousin was going to kill his six-year old cousin, but it just so happened the little Even though the doctor's do not kill their patients for their own personal gain, I still believe that it is the patients decision on whether they want to live or die. I also disagree with the book when it says " If a doctor lets a patient die, for humane reasons, he is in the same moral position as if he had given the patient a lethal injection for humane reasons." I believe that if the doctor is following orders from the patient, then the doctor is doing his job. I really don't favor active euthanasia more than passive euthanasia, I believe that ultimately it is the patients choice, and that the doctor should do what the patient wants. I also think that it is wrong to withhold treatment from a patient, and make the patient suffer even more. I also think that it is wrong to let a newborn baby wither to die, because that child should have a chance to live, and to be all it can be. In the long run I think that doctor's should do what is morally right, and let the suffering patient keep receiving treatments, until they die, but sometimes it is too much for the patient to take, and so I believe that it is the patients choice. I disagree with James Rachels essay, because I think that it is kind of like a cruel and unusual punishment to withdraw treatments from a patient. I believe that if a patient is ready to die that their treatment should not be withheld, the doctor's should either keep giving the patient treatments, or take other measures to end the patients life. Bibliography: Word Count: 833
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