Concerns for Policy Paper

Some of the main concerns I have in my paper is the lack of a concise thesis statement and a detailed description of the problem.  Other concerns I have are on the flow of the paper and if you got the main points of the essay.

ICW 11.22.2011

An issue that is most relevant to students that live off campus is the issue of on campus parking.  The implementing of a policy for parking for off campus students would make a huge impact in the student life for both on and off campus students.  For on campus students parking has never been an issue because they can walk to and from their dorms.  The problem exists in those students that have cars and still live on campus.  What should be changed is there should be specific parking lots for students who live in the dorms, specifically located on the outskirts of campus. Such parking structures like Pendelton Garage or Horizon Garage could be used specifically for these students. The student could pay a fee for a pass at the beginning of the year and have their car in a safe gated parking garage away from the middle of campus so that students commuting to and from campus have places to park. 

Annotated Bibliography

Tiana Langer

English 102.028

11.8.2011

Essay 3, AB Draft 1

Annotated Bibliography

"Assisted Suicide Is a Valid Medical Decision" by Alois Geiger. The Right To Die. Jennifer Dorman, Ed. At Issue Series. Greenhaven Press, 2010. Alois Geiger, "Why I Prescribe Drugs for Suicide," Times Online, October 24, 2008. Copyright © 2008 Times Newspapers Ltd. Reproduced by permission.

The position of this text is biased toward physician-assisted suicides being a good and valid reason for euthanasia.  The directed audience is toward people who agree that euthanasia is something that is not morally or ethically wrong.  There are many different ideas to this short text, one being the main subject for my essay Euthanasia and the Hippocratic oath.  Alois Gieger believes that the oath is "largely out of date" and that doctors today do not need to make this oath because it would forbid them from the most minor of surgeries such as the removal of a bladder stone.  He also talks about how it would forbid doctors from performing abortions as well.  Another main point he makes is when it is reasonable and acceptable for physicians to assist in a patient’s suicide.  He positions himself as a person helping someone that cannot find help elsewhere from a psychiatric standpoint or someone whose life is ending.  He says that it is his obligation to help his patients in any way that he can.  In response to this text I learned that doctors and physicians who agree that assisted suicide is a valid way to end a life believe that they are in no way breaking any morals of their own because it is for the well being of their patients. Geiger asks the reader many questions in this short text to make the reader reflect on the subject themselves and think what would they have him do.  In no way did this alter my viewpoint on the subject.  In fact I found it harder to understand because instead of giving his stance on the issue he was asking the reader questions and never truly explaining the situation except for in short one sentences. This specific source will be useful because it is directly from a physician that believes euthanasia is a legitimate way to end a life.  I will be able to use it to show the perspective of a first hand physician’s viewpoint through this article.  

"Physicians Should Not Be Legally Permitted to Assist in Suicide" by Leon R. Kass and Nelson Lund. Euthanasia. James D. Torr, Ed. Opposing Viewpoints® Series. Greenhaven Press, 2000. Excerpted from Leon R. Kass and Nelson Lund, "Courting Death: Assisted Suicide, Doctors, and the Law," Commentary, December 1996. Reprinted by permission; all rights reserved.

The overall position of this article is that euthanasia is in violation of the Hippocratic oath. The authors' do not particularly seem biased because the show both sides on some of the main topics though it is written for those readers who would agree with their views.  This article sometimes focuses on the legality of the issue of euthanasia, but holds good Intel on the issue in general and how it relates to the Hippocratic oath and the interpretation some physicians see it as today.  The main ideas of the text are the morality of the subject and how euthanasia in many ways goes against what physicians and doctors are taught.  The authors' distinguish the differences of a patient refusing help and asking help to end their lives.  Those patients that refuse help are in accordance with the oath while those that ask for help are in defiance. The main conclusions reached through this article are that though many physicians are tempted to assist in their patient’s suicide it is not a reason to change a traditional rule.  In response to this article I learned a valuable viewpoint on the issue from a more legal standpoint and not from a "completely against” standpoint, which I was expecting.  This article does a very good job of going in depth to the topic and the authors' particular view on the subject of euthanasia.  This will be useful in many ways, because it gives background information on the Hippocratic oath and a specific viewpoint on why euthanasia is in violation of the oath.  It also gives examples from today's society that some people view as acceptable, but when looked at with the history of the subject of euthanasia are in fact not what they seem to be. 

Ahmed, A.M and M.M. Kheir. “Attitudes towards euthanasia among final-year Khartoum University medical students”. Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal 12 (2006): 391-97.

2 faculty members wrote this article from the University of Khartoum in Sudan after their research of what some graduating medical students thought of euthanasia. There are no particular biases because it was research that the authors had done. The main part that is useful is the discussion of the research because it relays the results of the research done.  Mainly there was a direct link between student experience with the terminally ill and the positive attitude toward euthanasia.  This article showed that students in the Sudan were more willing than the doctors to accept euthanasia although the students believed the legalization of euthanasia could be dangerous to the more vulnerable patients, such as the elderly or mentally retarded.  This text shows the specific viewpoint of some medical students view on euthanasia.  It in no way altered my views on the subject of euthanasia because it was done with students in Sudan and not in the US.  I believe I would feel differently about the subject had it been a study done of last year medical students in a well know medical school in the US.  This specific text will be useful in my project because it give a good source of the viewpoints of some medical students and some facts about the students in correlation to euthanizing people.

Parpa, Efi et al. “Attitude of health care professionals, relatives of advanced cancer patients and public towards euthanasia and physician assisted suicide.” Health Policy 97 (2010):160-165. 3 Nov. 2011.

This study was done by a group of doctors in Greece to see how fellow health care professionals, relatives of patients and the patients themselves felt towards physician-assisted suicide.  The people interested in this study are mainly people interested in the act of euthanizing in Greece.  The main audience that this article is meant for are fellow doctors or someone who may be researching the topic of Euthanasia, because it gives an in depth, researched, case of the viewpoint some doctors and patients on Euthanasia.  The main idea of the research article is that euthanasia has now procured the meaning of the direct administration of a lethal agent to a patient by another party.  Most of the time this is with merciful intent after the patient has requested it.  Physician assisted suicide refers to the patient intentionally ending his life with a physicians assistance. The main objective of the research was to investigate the opinions of some Greek doctors, nurses, family members of patient, and patients themselves on euthanasia and physician assisted suicide.  From this article I learned that the Greek system is in close resemblance to the way most American doctors feel because they share a lot of the same views on the subject.  This particular article was very helpful because it gave background information on euthanasia and the different kinds whether passive, or active.  This particular text will be useful in my paper because it is a study of patients and doctors and their views on euthanasia. 

 Karlsson, Marit. End-Of-Life Care and Euthanasia: Attitudes of Medical Students and Dying Cancer Patients. 2011. Sweden, Stockholm. 3 Nov 2011.

This article is a thesis from the Department of Oncology and Pathology at the Karolinksa Institute.  The main objective of this text is to look at the end-of-life care and supporting factors that are required for a “good death”.  The main concepts for a “good death” are relief of suffering and the maintenance of autonomy and dignity in the patient. The paper looks at the attitudes toward end-of-life care and euthanasia in medical students and dying cancer patients.  The main conclusion reached at the end of the study was that there was no real correlation in the attitudes towards euthanasia in medical students and patients, although the medical students seemed surer on their positions than the patients.  This text was a very long and in depth study of the attitudes towards euthanasia which made it hard to read and comprehend, but there were parts that were relevant to my topic.  The paper touched on the fact of legalization of euthanasia, which is already legal in Sweden, so it makes me think that this was intended for people where euthanasia was not already legal.  It will be useful in the viewpoints of some medical students and the patient’s views on the topic of euthanasia.

Euthanasia. ProCon.org 6 Oct 2008. 3 Nov 2011. http://euthanasia.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=000198

This text was found online and gives many quotes from doctors who are for and against the topic of euthanasia. It also gives the full Hippocratic oath.  This article had no real main points because it was a collection of quotes from doctors on both sides of the controversy.  Some of the research I have already collected from some doctors are quoted again in this article, and it gives further insight on how some of the doctors feel about euthanasia.  This article was short and because it is a collection of quotes it is hard for me to agree and disagree on certain claims that each doctor has.  The main parts I will be using are the quotes for and against the topic of euthanasia.  There is only one line in the Hippocratic oath that pertains to the act of euthanasia in the sense that I am talking about, though I may touch on the different ways euthanasia can be looked at in my paper. 

Tyson, Peter. “The Hippocratic Oath Today”. 27 Mar 2001. PBS Nova Online. 5 Nov 2011. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/hippocratic-oath-today.html

This article was found online and was written by the editor in chief of Nova Online, a beta site for PBS.com.  The directed audience may be someone who is studying Hippocrates or studying the Hippocratic oath. The main point of the text is the Hippocratic oath and the role it plays in the medical field today.  Everyone is required to take some form of the oath, though today it is not exactly the way it was written by Hippocrates.  Although they are different the message is very similar.  The article also gives background on what people feel about the Hippocratic oath and the positives and negatives of the original oath and the modern oath.  This text gave me insight on what the oath that is taken today is like.  I never expected it to be exactly like the original, but to adhere to the main points. In some ways it does and some it doesn’t.  In the modern version of the oath it does not say that euthanasia is against it but that it is a great responsibility to be faced with humbleness and awareness and to not play God.  This will give me sufficient information on the Hippocratic oath from the original and the more modern version of the oath.  It will make incorporation into the essay easier because it also gives what people think of the oath that are not a doctor and how those for the act of euthanasia can interpret it to no be against the oath.

Quill, Timothy and Greenlaw, Jane. “Physician Assisted Death”. The Hastings Center. 5 Nov 2011. <http://wwwthehastingscenter.org/Publications/BriefingBook/Detail.aspx?id=2202>.

A Medical Doctor who is the director of palliative care at the University of Rochester and a Juris Doctor who is the director of program in clinical ethics wrote this article. The article describes and highlights the reasons physician assisted suicide is acceptable.  It frames the issue from being something that is viewed as bad and shows where physician assisted death is a legitimate reason for a patient’s death.  The article is not biases because it also highlights tat it is a controversial issue and that the public is divided on the topic as well as giving information for and against the view of legalizing physician assisted death.  Along with the article they give an ultimatum as a “last resort option”.  This text was very good at pointing out the controversy f physician assisted death and giving many reasons fro and against it as well as an end result. It still does not change my opinion on the subject. This will be useful in my paper because it gives the two main views on physician assisted suicide which proves helpful because it can either be cohesive with the views of the doctors, patients, and students or not which will prove interesting.  

Topic Proposal

The issue I have decided to focus on in my essay is Euthanasia. Specifically how euthanasia goes against the Hippocratic Oath and the morality of doctors and physicians. Euthanasia is the practice of intentionally ending a life to relieve pain or suffering, but the legality and view around the subject have been debated since the times of Ancient Rome. Many people have controversial views on the subject because it a form of suicide to some and killing to others.
Medical students are just one group that are directly impacted by euthanizing.  Like many groups religion makes an impact on how people view the subject, but with medical students they are taught to put aside their feeling in care of patients.  From a study done only around 36% of medical students supported euthanasia while up to 72% showed opposition. From the position of a medical student the same study also showed that of the 36% of students that supported euthanasia only half were prepared to carry out the act.
The main group of people impacted are the patients who want to be euthanized.  As a patient with a terminal illness or someone who is in a great deal of suffering and pain they are ultimately looking for a way to control their diseases. As a means of doing this they turn to euthanasia.  These patients look at euthanasia as a relief of pain and address it as a way out of being a "burden".  In a study researchers found that the most common reasons for patients asking for assisted death include loss of autonomy, loss of control or bodily functions an inability to participate in activities the patients find enjoyable and a determination to control their death.  
One group in particular that has a strong view on the subject of euthanasia are the physicians and doctors who agree that euthanasia is a valid medical procedure.  They view euthanasia as a valid way to give their patients what they want, though they see it as a valid reason if they cannot help the patient in any other way.  Ultimately they believe that suicide is a human right, and can be done in a more humane way than the brutal way people believe suicide is, and they see it as another way of helping their patients.
Lastly is the view of the doctors who oppose euthanizing.  These doctors believe it is a violation of the conduct that a doctor should use.  This is the view of most medical professionals in the US because they have been taught to have a profound repugnance to medial killing.  This view is mainly because the euthanizing of human beings is strictly against the law in the US. These physicians also take this view because if euthanizing were to be legalized most medical professionals would take advantage of the power over their patients, and they fear that power.
My personal view on the topic of euthanasia mirror those of the doctors and physicians who oppose euthanizing. I feel as if euthanizing is a way for someone to justify killing another person.  I am not a very religious person so that view point has nothing to do with my stance on the topic, but I do believe that if some doctors were given the option of legally killing their patients because they were terminally ill or sick they would turn to that option. I also feel like it would give physicians and doctors a certain power over their patients that would disassociate the humanity in a patient/doctor relation.

ICW 11/1/11

The problem is that the act of physican assisted suicide is in violation of the Hippocratic Oath.  It is important becuase in the Hippocratic Oath a physican/doctor is not supposed to hurt their patients or give them anything that will end their life prematurely.  The people affected are the physicans/doctors who euthanize their patients as well as the patient and the patients family.  People might disagree that euthanasia is does not violate the Hippocratic Oath because physicians/doctors are no longer required to take this oath and it is what the patient wants.  Another reason people might disagree is becuase if the patient wants to end their life due to some incurable disease or illness, they might see it as the physicians/doctors right to give them a drug that will end their life painlessly, instead of the patient having to live while suffering.

SWA 21

The main argument is that in today's rushed pace we are not normally asked to read large sections of print on a day to day basis.  We can normally scan an article and look at a picture and take from that the main meaning of the article without ever actually having to read and comprehend what is written.  The reader can gather this from the fact that the article is taking people's reactions and making it look as if they have never had to read a 500 word aritcle before.  

The article uses hyperbole in that it exagerates the reaction people would have if they were given a 500 work block of text with no pictures or fancy heading.  People would not just ignore it or hold it up to their ear and ask what they want from it.  This further advances the argument made because it is an illustration of what could happen if people were not used to reading and comprehending large amounts of texts.  

SWA 20

"Assisted Suicide Is a Valid Medical Decision" by Alois Geiger. The Right To Die. Jennifer Dorman, Ed. At Issue Series. Greenhaven Press, 2010. Alois Geiger, "Why I Prescribe Drugs for Suicide," Times Online, October 24, 2008. Copyright © 2008 Times Newspapers Ltd. Reproduced by permission.


The position of this text is biased toward physician assisted suicides being a good and valid reason for euthanasia.  The directed audience is toward people who agree that euthanasia is something that is not morally or ethically wrong.  There are many different ideas to this short text, one being the main subject for my essay Euthanasia and the Hippocratic Oath.  Alois Gieger believes that the oath is "largely out of date" and that doctors today do not need to make this oath becuase it would forbid them from the most minor of surgeries such as the removal of a bladderstone.  He also talks about how it would forbid doctors from performing abortions as well.  Another main point he makes is when it is reasonable and acceptable for physicians to assist in a patients suicide.  He positions himself as a person helping someone that cannot find help elsewhere from a phyciatric standpoint or someone whose life is ending.  He says that it is his obligation to help his patients in any way that he can.  In response to this text I learned that doctors and physicians who agree that assisted suicide is a valid way to end a life believe that they are in no way breaking any morals of their own because it is for the well being of their patients. Geiger asks the reader many questions in this short text to make the reader reflect on the subject themselves and think what would they have him do.  In no way did this alter my viewpoint on the subject.  In fact I found it harder to understand because instead of giving his stance on the issue he was asking the reader questions and never truly explaining the situation except for in short one scentences. This specific source will be useful because it is directly from a physician that believes euthanasia is a legitimate way to end a life.  I will be able to use it to show the perspective of a first hand physicans viewpoints through this article.  


"Physicians Should Not Be Legally Permitted to Assist in Suicide" by Leon R. Kass and Nelson Lund. Euthanasia. James D. Torr, Ed. Opposing Viewpoints® Series. Greenhaven Press, 2000. Excerpted from Leon R. Kass and Nelson Lund, "Courting Death: Assisted Suicide, Doctors, and the Law," Commentary, December 1996. Reprinted by permission; all rights reserved.


The overall position of this article is that euthanasia is in violation of the hippocratic oath. The authors' do not particularly seem biased because the show both sides on some of the main topic's though it is written for those readers who would agree with their views.  This article sometimes focuses on the legality of the issue of euthanasia, but holds good intel on the issue in general and how it relates to the Hippocratic oath and the interpretation some physicians see it as today.  The main ideas of the text are the morallity of the subject and how euthanasia in many ways goes against what physicians and doctors are taught.  The authors' distinguish the differences of a patient refusing help and asking help to end their lives.  Those patients that refuse help are in accordance with the oath while those that ask for help are in defiance. The main conclusions reached through this article are that though many physicians are tempted to assist in their patients suicide it is not a reason to change a traditional rule.  In response to this article I learned a valuable viewpoint on the issue from a more legal standpoint and not from a "completely against"standpoint, which I was expecting.  This article does a very good job of going in depth to the topic and the authors' particular view on the subject of euthanasia.  This will be useful in many ways, because it gives background information on the Hippocratic Oath and a specific viewpoint on why euthanasia is in violation of the oath.  It also gives examples from today's society that some people view as acceptable, but when looked at with the history of the subject of euthanasia are in fact not what they seem to be.