Euthanasia is the deliberate advancement of a person’s death for the benefit

游客2023-11-30  27

问题     Euthanasia is the deliberate advancement of a person’s death for the benefit of that person. In most cases euthanasia is carried out because the person who is usually terminally ill asks to die. It can be carried out either by doing something, such as administering a lethal injection, or by not doing something necessary to keep the person alive. The following are opinions on the necessity of legalizing euthanasia.
    Write an article of NO LESS THAN 300 words, in which you should:
    1. summarize the arguments, and then
    2. express your opinion towards euthanasia, especially whether it should be legalized.
Bonnie Malkin, Professor of Ave Maria School of Law
    Our legal system accepts that people have a legal right to choose when to die, as demonstrated by the fact that suicide is legal. This right is denied to those who are incapable of taking their own lives unaided. Legalising euthanasia would redress this balance. Our legal system also recognises that assisting a suicide attempt is a crime.
    Human beings are independent biological entities, and as an adult, have the right to take and carry out decisions about themselves. A human being decides who they spend their life with, their career path, where they live, whether to bear children. So what is the harm in allowing a terminally ill patient to decide for themselves whether they die in a hospital or in their own home? Surely a terminally ill sufferer is better qualified to decide for themselves whether they are better off dead or alive? Their disease makes them so crippled they cannot commit suicide alone. A quote from The Independent in this March stated that "So long as the patient is lucid, and his or her intent is clear beyond doubt, there need be no further questions". Human beings should be as free as possible and unnecessary restraints on human rights are strongly discouraged.
Luke Gormally, first Research Officer of The Linacre Centre
    The prestigious position of doctors could quite easily be abused if euthanasia were to become legalised. A prime example of this would be the late Dr Harold Shipman, who killed between 215 and 260 elderly women. Vulnerable, ill people trust their doctor and if he confidently suggested a course of action, it could be hard to resist. A patient and his family would generally decide in favour of euthanasia according to the details fed to them by their doctor. These details may not even be well founded: diagnoses can be mistaken and new treatment developed which the doctor does not know about. Surely it is wrong to give one or two individuals the right to decide whether a patient should live or die. On the contrary, the majority of doctors would make well-informed, responsible and correct decisions, but for those few like Harold Shipman, they can get away with murder, undetected, for 23 years.
Gina Barton, American journalist
    If a terminal patient faces a long, slow, painful death, surely it is much kinder to spare them this kind of suffering and allow them to end their life comfortably. Pain medications used to alleviate symptoms often have unpleasant side effects or may leave the patient in a state of sedation. It is not as if they are really "living" during this time; they are merely waiting to die. They should have the right to avoid this kind of torturous existence and be allowed to die in a humane way.

选项

答案             Should Euthanasia Be Made Legal?
    Whether people with terminal illness can be put to death when they ask for it has been a pendent debate for decades. It is a complicated issue that involves a series of intertwined factors including human right, social ethics, professional conduct and the value of life.
    Supporters of euthanasia believe that those patients, who are suffering from the torture from the disease, should have the right to choose whether to live on or not Just like suicide, it should have been an autonomy right for all independent biological entities, and a legislation will help guarantee this right of choice based on free will. However, opponents are more worried about the possible abuse of this choice, either from the doctor or from the family.
    As far as I am concerned, legalized euthanasia can be a good policy. I agree all the potential risks of doing this, but there are ways to counterbalance them. Provided there are reasonable institutional arrangement and scrutinized implementation of euthanasia, the advantages of legalizing it will overweight the disadvantages. Firstly, strict medical standards, regulation and monitoring should be applied to ensure that this option is not abused. Only when certain criteria are met can doctors suggest considering euthanasia an option. Secondly, making euthanasia legal is a humane way of relieving patients’ unbearable pain and assuring them some quality time to enjoy the last moments in the world. Last but not least, by guaranteeing people’s right to choose how to die, which is the main purpose of this legislation, patients with terminal illness who are suffering from endless pain and torture, can die in peace and with dignity.
    The word "euthanasia" originates from Greek, meaning "die in happiness" literally, which, I believe, is one of the most important aspects of the very definition of humanism.

解析     材料围绕“安乐死”的话题展开讨论,分别给出教授、官员和记者对此的看法,其中教授和记者支持安乐死,而官员则反对这一做法。
    在教授看来,选择死亡是人类作为一个独立的生物体的权利(have a legal right),法律允许人们自杀,但对于那些没有能力自杀的人,只要是他们在清醒(lucid)状态下表达的意愿,则应当允许他们安乐死;在记者看来,当绝症病人面临一个漫长缓慢且痛苦的死亡时(a long,slow,painful death),他们有权结束这种备受煎熬的生存(torturous existence)。
    而官员认为,安乐死一旦合法化,则可能会被轻易滥用(easily be abused)。因为脆弱的患者往往很信赖医生,根据医生给出的信息来做决定,而医生的诊断有可能不是完全确切的(may not even be well founded)。一旦安乐死被合法化,医生、病人和家属有可能会增加对其的考虑,放弃其他选择。
    开篇:简要介绍“安乐死”的概念,并总结材料中对此的正反观点。
    主体:提出个人观点——安乐死合法化是件好事,虽有潜在的风险,但也有应对措施。从三方面阐释原因:
    1.应设立严格的医学标准、规定和监管体系,规避安乐死被滥用。
    2.安乐死合法化可以人道地减轻病人的痛苦。
    3.安乐死合法化可以保证人们选择死亡方式的权利。
    结尾:引用“安乐死”的希腊语义,重申安乐死的合理性。
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