Should People Have Autonomy over Their End of Life Decisions Essay Example for Free

Should People Have Autonomy over Their End of Life Decisions Essay There is a lot of controversy surrounding the issue of people’s autonomy when it comes to the end of their lives. Why somebody would want to end their life prematurely is a question that puzzles people. So therefore is hard to comprehend why people should have autonomy over such a thing. There has been an increase in the interest of euthanasia and assisted suicide for the terminally ill in recent years (Williams 1997). The most obvious reason for someone wanting to end their life is to end the suffering they are going through once the illness goes beyond being bearable. Palliative care is an important part of treating a seriously ill patient. It provides a patient with care, support and any medical treatment they need including pain relief. But is this enough? A person that is extremely sick, for example, a terminally ill cancer patient, or a person that is paralysed from the neck down, or any person that is unable to do things for themselves – such as washing, eating etc., will need to depend on others to help them. This would involve somebody dressing them, washing them, feeding them – or having being fed via I.V., they would need help going to the toilet and may need to be lifted in and out of a bed. These peoples quality of life would be very low. They may be depending on family members for these things or medical professionals that are strangers to them. Either way, this can be an embarrassing and upsetting for a person. They may feel like they have lost all sense of dignity and some might feel like they are just waiting to die. People in these situations may often decide that the best option for them is to end their physical and emotional pain. If a doctor cannot improve an individual’s quality of life and they make that decision to end their suffering, the patient should have right to have their wishes met. Those that request assistance in dying are usually very desperate and do not see any other option. There are vast amounts of arguments against autonomy at the end of ones life too. Religious perspectives. consequences on family, friends and healthcare professionals. Is it ethical? Would it begin a slippery slope towards involuntary euthanasia? But are these arguments and opinions stronger than a person’s right to choose? The Argument The subject of euthanasia is very controversial because there are very strong arguments at both ends of the spectrum. There are any justifications for and against the issue of one’s autonomy over their end of life decision. Paterson (2008) states that religion plays a role in many people’s decisions against voluntarily ending one’s life. Most religions are strongly opposed to the idea that a person should want to end their own life and/or aid an individual in doing so. Other factors come into play such as conscience and morality. Some people see it as unlawful and more often than not, it is a very taboo subject that people would rather not discuss. (Paterson, 2008) On the opposite end of the spectrum, one will argue that those who are terminally ill are going through unbearable suffering, they may need help going to the bathroom, eating and drinking and possibly feel like they have lost their dignity because of this. In an online article written for the Daily Mail, a man by the name of Tony Nicklinson describes his life as â€Å"miserable, demeaning and undignified† (Miller, 2012). The article describes how Nicklinson is mentally sound but physically paralysed from the neck down and took his plea for his right to die to the courts. This emphasises that euthanasia and assisted suicide can be a relief from pain and suffering, or in Tony Nicklinson’s case, an alternative to the quality of life he must struggle through on a daily basis. (Miller, 2012) Many factors come into play when a person decides they no longer want to live. It is not a decision that is made lightly. It is one of desperation. Those opposed to the idea of assisted suicide and euthanasia will argue that a patient in severe pain and suffering in their daily living, will receive the appropriate palliative care thus, rendering euthanasia unnecessary (Anti-euthanasia arguments 2012) But surely palliative care is also a necessary element in figuring out whether or not a person would be deemed eligible if euthanasia were an option for them. Palliative care also provides support for those closest to a patient. If a terminally ill patient of sound mind wishes to end their pain and suffering, does that mean that they and their close family and friends are no longer entitled to the same care and support as those patients that do not choose to end their lives earlier? Under the subtitle ‘Proper Palliative Care’, an article on the BBC website states â€Å"The key to successful palliative care is to treat the patient as a person, not as a set of symptoms, or medical problems.† (Anti-euthanasia arguments 2012) If this is the case, the patient as a person – should be given their dignity, respect and deserve to have their voice heard. â€Å"The judgement – as to whether a life, in the face of intractable pain and suffering, is worth living – can and should be determined by the conscience of the individual patient []† (Paterson, 2008. p16) An article for the Irish Times declares that the attitudes of the irish people towards euthanasia is rapidly changing. A study carried out by a Canadian student, Matthew Carere on final year medical students in UCC, reveals that the majority – almost 60% were in favour of euthanasia, with Carere stating that the reason for this was that patients are more informed these days to make their own decisions and that medical professionals have more respect for patient autonomy (Roseingrave, 2011). Very often, deliberate decisions are made which results in the end of a life. For example, a person could be kept on life support, but instead, a family member or other significant person might choose to switch off the life support machine resulting in the official death of a patient. There is also the case that resuscitation of a patient may eventually prove to be trivial and a doctor might suggest just making the patient as comfortable as possible until their eventual passing. In the above situations, a medical professional’s decisions would not be questioned or doubted. It is conventional practice (Warnock and MacDonald 2008). An organisation called Exit International was set up in 1997 by Dr. Philip Nitschke. They believe that people have the right to make an informed decision about when and how they will bring their life to an end. They provide information and support to those that need it on assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia (About Exit International 2012) â€Å"Exit’s long term goal is responsible and ethical law reform. The Swiss model of decriminalising assisted suicide is the preferred model.† (About Exit International 2012) At the moment the Netherlands is the only place in the world that one can legally take action should they decide it’s their time to go (Griffiths and Weyers 1998). It was legalised fully in the year 2000. Prior to this doctors could still be prosecuted by law. However, there are strict guidelines that must be met. â€Å"1. Adult patients must be beyond any hope of recovery and face continuous unbearable pain. 2. The patient must make repeated, clear and reasoned requests to do so. 3. A second physician must be consulted. 4. The action must be carried out in a medically approved manner. 5. parental consent is required for patients under 16 years old.† (Legalized Euthanasia 2007) In Switzerland, active euthanasia is illegal but with specific consent, doctors may provide the drugs but the patient must be the one to take them voluntarily. (Legalized Euthanasia 2007) A person’s right to choose is very imminent. Considering the criteria that must be met in the Netherlands and Switzerland, it’s very obvious that it is only an option if it is in the very best interest of the patient. This makes sense if one considers prolonging the suffering of a patient both physically and mentally as cruel and unethical. Conclusion The term ‘suicide’ brings with it a lot of negative emotions. The idea that somebody would willingly want to end their lives is a distressing thought. It conjures up the idea that a person is depressed and in deep emotional pain. The idea of suicide is indeed scary. This, perhaps may be why people panic when they hear the term ‘assisted-suicide’ or when they think about euthanasia. What those opposed to the idea of prematurely ending a life do not think about though, is the physical as well as the emotional pain a terminally ill person is feeling. They can empathise but not fully understand, unless they are in the same or similar situation. So, who are they to deny a human being their free will and choice to end their suffering? How do they know that they would not feel the same way if they were the ones going through the unbearable pain and lack of dignity? â€Å"Furthermore it is argued, we ourselves have an obligation to relieve the suffering of our fell ow human beings and to respect their dignity.† (Andre, Velasquez 2012) People against the idea of assisted suicide and euthanasia will speak of the guilt of allowing a person to seek an end to their own lives. But where is their guilt in watching an individual, perhaps a loved one in relentless pain? Where is their compassion for the terminally ill patient? (Andre and Velasquez 2012) Thos people may also talk about a ‘slippery-slope’ to involuntary suicide. the legalisation of euthanasia and assisted suicide under certain circumstances, would mean legislation – criteria that needs to be met, similarly, if not the same as that of Netherlands. â€Å"with safeguards, the law should permit it and people should be supplied with the means to take their own life or a doctor should be authorized to end their life provided the request is made before witnesses.† (Williams 1997) People of sound mind should have autonomy over what they want to happen at the end of their life, they should have the choice. Williams (1997) suggests that if one rationally decides that they want to end their life, they must be prepared to discuss the pros and the cons of their decision and the reasons behind those decisions will be questioned. He writes that we all have a right to make a decision on our own life and once their unit of family and friends is taken into account, then it can be justifiable to deliberately end a life. This is completely understandable and logical. People would no longer have to endure excruciating pain and struggle through the end of their lives without dignity. If they have autonomy, they have the choice to end their suffering and pain.

Alienation Exposed in Richard Wrights Black Boy :: Wright Black Boy Essays

Alienation Exposed in Black Boy  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   From the early days of Richard’s childhood, Richard was always alienated from his environment.   Even though he tried to distance himself from the prejudice all around him, the white people still tried to turn him into the stereotypical southern black person.   However, throughout the story Richard is also alienated by his own people and perhaps even more then from the white people.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Richard was always a rebel, from his boyhood to his older teenage years.   Richard’s grandmother was always excessively beating him.   From the beginning, Richard would not subdue himself to the white man like the other black people around.   The white people knew that he was different from other black men.   Whites were scared because Richard challenged the system that they had created to insure white supremacy.   They feared Richard, and some of the white people felt it necessary to act out their racist feelings in order to cover up their fear.   White coworkers beat Richard because his boss was kind to him. Richard later had to leave a good job because those racist co-workers would â€Å"kill† him.   When the principal at Richard’s school had asked Richard to give a speech to a large audience of white and black people, Richard refused to read the principal’s prepared speech. By reading the principal’s speech, Richard was saying what the white power wanted him to say and to Richard this would be giving in to the very thing he hated so much.   Richard was willing to leave school without a diploma instead of this.   White people alienated Richard from his environment because he did not accept the way of life that other black people did.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Richard’s relatives never understood Richard and because of this he was alienated from his family and his own people.  Ã‚   Shorty is the young black boy who gets beat by the white people and jokes about it.   Richard hates Shorty because he accepts what Richard finds so disgusting.   Richard goes over in his mind the different choices he can make to deal with the feelings he has.   Richard does not want to â€Å"give in† and be a slave to the white people.   He would never give in and become a slave because he has hated that idea since day one.   Richard contemplates transferring his hatred and frustration out on other blacks, but knows that will not aid the situation.

Enron Ethics Essay

This article tries to show how the company’s culture had profound effects on the ethics of its employee? And particularly in this case: how did Enron lose both its economical and ethical status? This question makes the Enron case interesting to us as business ethicists. Enron ethics means that business ethics is a question of organizational â€Å"deep† culture rather than of cultural artifacts like ethics codes, ethics officers and the like. BackgroundAt the beginning Enron faced a number of financially difficulty years. In 1988, the deregulation of the electrical power market took effect and Enron redefined its business to energy broker and got a thriving company. The company became a â€Å"matchmaker† in the power industry, bringing buyers and sellers together. Enron embraced a culture that rewarded â€Å"cleverness†. Pushing the limits was considered a survival skill; the motto of the CEO Jeffry Skilling was â€Å"Do it right, do it now and do it better†. This culture admires innovation and unchecked ambition and publicly punishes poor performance can produce big return in the short term. However, in the long run, achieving additional value by constantly â€Å"upping the ante† becomes harder and harder. A lot of smoke and mirrorsWith Enron’s spectacular success, the business community rewarded Enron for its cleverness and Enron’s executives felt driven by this reputation to sustain the explosive growth of the late 1990s, even when they logically knew that it was not possible. In order to indicate that the company was not as successful as it appeared, Enron entered into a deceiving web of partnerships and employed increasingly questionable accounting methods to maintain its investment-grade status. PartnershipsTo push the value envelope, Enron created â€Å"special purpose vehicles† (SPV), pseudo-partnerships that allowed the company to sell assets and â€Å"create† earnings that artificially enhanced its bottom line. Enron exaggerated earnings by recognizing gains on the sale of assets to SPVs. An example is the partnership with Blockbuster which was intended to provide movies to homes directly over phones lines. In this case Enron recorded $ 110.9 million in profits prematurely, even if these profits were never realized as the partnership after only a 1,000-home pilot. Therefore booking  earnings before they are realized were rather â€Å"early† than wrong. The culture at Enron was quickly eroding the ethical boundaries of its employees. Keeping debt off the balance sheetTo avoid that a highly leveraged balance sheet would threaten its credit rating, Enron parked some of its debt on the balance sheet of its SPVs and kept hidden from analysts and investors. This can be read as another example of ethical erosion, but Enron’s decision makers saw the shuffling of debt rather as a timing issue and not as an ethical one. Partnerships at â€Å"arm’s length†Enron enlisted help from its outside accountants and its attorneys to guarantee that the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) did not consider its partnerships as Enron subsidiaries. Enron crafted relationships that looked (legally) like partnerships, although they were (in practice) subsidiaries. A closer look at the partnerships would have revealed that the outside investments came from companies that were owned by Enron. Conflicts of interestEnron officials obviously had close ties with its partnerships. For example, the CFO war partial owner of two of the most important partnerships. The culture of cleverness at Enron started as a pursuit of excellence that devolved into the appearance of excellence as executives worked to develop clever ways of preserving Enron’s infallible faà §ade of success; for the good of the company, Enron’s executives also began to bend the rules for personal again. Once a culture’s ethical boundaries are breached thresholds of more extreme ethical compromises become lower. The self-reinforcing decline of EnronThe sum of incremental ethical transgressions produced the business catastrophe. As partnerships began to fail with increasing regularity, Enron was liable for millions of dollars it had not anticipated losing. The financial implosionThe partnerships that once boosted earnings and allowed Enron to prosper became the misplaced card that caused the Enron  house to collapse. The very results Enron had sought to prevent – falling stock prices, lack of consumer and financial market confidence – came about as a direct result of decisions that had been driven by Enron’s culture. The Enron case of ethical failure consists of more than a series of questionable business dealings. Enron employees, who had been encouraged to invest heavily in the company, found themselves unable to remove and salvage their investments. The company culture of individualism, innovation, and aggressive cleverness left Enron without compassionate, responsible leadership. Leadership mechanisms and organizational culture at EnronLeadership is the critical component of the organization’s culture because leaders can create, reinforce or change the organization’s culture. According to Schein (1985) there are five primary mechanisms that a leader can use to influence an organization’s culture: attention, reaction to crises, role modelling, allocation of rewards, criteria of selection and dismissal. AttentionIf the leaders of the organizations focus on the bottom line, employees believe that financial success is the leading value to consider. Enron executives’ attention was clearly focused on profits, power, greed and influence; â€Å"Profits at all costs†. As Stern has suggested, if the organization’s leaders seem to care only about the short-term bottom line, employees quickly get the message too. Reaction to crisesSchein asserts, that a crisis tests what the leader values and brings these values to the surface. With each impending crisis, leaders have an opportunity to communicate throughout the organization what the company’s values are. Enron was facing a crisis of how to sustain a phenomenal growth rate. Leaders reacted by defending a culture that valued profitability, even when it was at the expense of everything else. The mantra at Enron seems to be that ethical wrongdoing is to be hidden at any cost; deny, play the dupe, claim ignorance, lie, quit. It appears that the truth and its consequences have been a part of the Enron culture. Role modeling (how leaders behave)Actions speak louder than words –  therefore- modeling behaviour is a very powerful tool that leaders have to develop and influence corporate culture. Employees observe the behaviour of leaders to find out what is valued in the organization. Perhaps, this was the most significant shortcoming of Enron executives. Enron’s leaders’ primary message about their values was sent through their own actions. They broke the law as they concentrated on financial measures and used of the creative partnerships. It also sent a message to employees that full and complete disclosure is not a requirement, or even recommended. If the company achieved short-term benefits by hiding information, it was acceptable. The leadership of Enron almost certainly dictated the company’s outcome through their own actions by providing perfect conditions for unethical behaviour. Just as the destiny of individuals is determined by personal character, the destiny of an organization is determined by the character of its leadership. Allocation of rewardsThe behaviour of people rewarded with pay increases or promotions signals to others what is necessary to succeed in an organization. To ensure that values are accepted, leaders should reward behaviour that is consistent with the values. Enron’s reward system established a â€Å"win-at-all-costs† focus. The company’s leadership promoted ant retained only those employees that produced consistently, with little regard to ethics. â€Å"The moral of this story is break the rule, you can cheat, you can lie, but as long as you make money, it’s all right†. The company’s compensation structure contributed to an unethical work culture, too – by promoting self-interest above any other interest. Enron’s reward system rewarded individuals who embraced Enron’s aggressive, individualistic culture and were based on short-term profits and financial measures. Criteria of selection and dismissal (how leaders hire end fire employees)The selection of newcomers to an organization is a powerful way of how a leader reinforces culture. Leaders often unconsciously look for individuals who are similar to current organizational members in terms of values and assumptions. This tends to perpetuate the culture because the new employees typically hold similar values. The CIO of Enron (Skilling) perpetuated a focus on short-term transactional endeavours from the very beginning by  hiring employees that embodied the beliefs that he was trying to instil: aggressiveness, greed, a will to win at all costs, and an appreciation for circumventing the rules. The way a company fires an employee and the rationale behind the firing also communicate the culture. Some company deal with poor performers by trying to find them a place within the organization where they can perform better and make a contribution. At Enron, fifteen to twenty percent of producers were let go or fired after a formal evaluation process each year. Final comments and suggestions for future work†Consequences of unethical or illegal actions are not usually realized until much later when the act is committed†. Enron’s culture is a good example of groupthink where individuals feel extreme pressure not to express any real strong arguments against any co-workers’ action. Employee were loyal in an ambiguous sense of the term, they wanted to be seen as part of the star team and to partake in the benefits that that honor entailed. Two of the most important lessons to learn from the Enron culture history is that bad top management morality can be a sufficient condition for creating a self-destructive ethical climate and that a well-filled CSR (corporate social responsibility) and business ethics toolbox can neither stop nor compensate for such processes. Enron is a case of deceiving corporate citizenship and of surface or faà §ade ethics. A typology with moral cultures can be draft with two dimensions: ethicalness of an organization culture and presence of business ethical tools of artifacts (ethics officers, codes of ethics, value statement). Enron looks at first sight like â€Å"type I†, like a classical business ethics case, with a typical mix of â€Å"amorality† and â€Å"immorality†. But the thesis of the authors is that Enron is an at least as good illustration of â€Å"type II†, of window-dressing ethics, with talking instead of walking, ethics as rhetoric. While â€Å"type II† looks modern, â€Å"type III† looks like the old-fashioned type of moral business ethics, CSR, marketing and public relations were invented with collective moral conscience as consistent label and content, perhaps additionally communicating moral humbleness, with a  touch of British understatement. â€Å"Type IV† refers to a moral role business culture in the age of marketing and public relations, with walking the talk, with showing and confessing openly its collective moral conscience. Bibliography: http://www.springerlink.com/content/p712j1555807774r/ Enron Ethics (Or: Culture Matters More than Codes) – Ronald R. Sims, Johannes Brinkmann

Argumentative Essay Sweat Dripping - 1938 Words

Seasoned and reputable masters were flogging their willing submissives and famous Mistresses were playing with their boy-toys or female boi-toys. It was an enjoyable, dreadful on some levels and emotionally erotic atmosphere throughout. You either got turned on, turned off or otherwise visually stimulated by the echoing, feral sounds of pain and pleasure and the powerful dynamics. Sexy, sweat dripping, almost nude bodies and flexed muscles of all the experienced dominants in action painted the dreary warehouse in a vibrant, colorful sexuality. One might describe their take of this exclusive event as a delightful, diversified, human buffet of powerful pleasures and sweet satisfaction. When my feet started aching from being in thigh high,†¦show more content†¦It occurred to me that this accident might be brought to the attention of the Chicago police. I told joseph and we promptly got a cab and headed back to the hotel. Until that night in October 92, I hadn’t known h ow much more I still had to learn about the extreme side of the underground leather world. That weekend I was amazed to learn there are lots of people into various activities of heavy edge-play. I had seen and done my share since 1979, but I realized I had been sheltered from much of it. In my dominatrix practice my boundaries and limitations had successfully eliminated my exposure to the heaviest of edge-play and blood-sports, because when it was requested of me in a private session, I rejected the session. While I had worked hard to learn as much as I could to be creative in my private sessions, this Chicago leather convention made me feel like a newbie all over again. I had a lot more to learn and I was determined to do so. What stunned me then and still astounds me today is the people who believe they are know-it-alls about this complex scene having lived it for a year or less, others with up to only five years of experience. I had been down this rocky, treacherous road for over twelve years, and knew I had much to learn. * joseph and I flew home the next day after the farewell brunch. As the 747 took off from O’Hare International Airport, we disappeared into a tall puff of white clouds, and I knew myShow MoreRelatedIgbo Dictionary129408 Words   |  518 Pagesillustrated the meaning and use of words; the great majority of the examples are due to him. Their merit is that they are not translations from English, but natural Igbo sentences elicited only by the stimulus of the word they illustrate. The short essays which appear from time to time (e.g. under otà ¹tà ¹, à ²Ã¯â‚¬ ¤gbanÌ„je) on aspects of culture are also his work, as are the sketches which served as basis for the illustrations, a large number of new words, and various features of the arrangement. When he had