Legalization of Euthanasia

Legalization of Euthanasia

“All cases of death resulting directly or indirectly from a positive or negative act of the victim himself, which he know will produce this result” (Durkehim, n.d.). Generally, euthanasia might sounds evil and immoral due to the intentional death that it causes. However, different perspectives have proven that euthanasia is considerable to be a better way in certain cases. It can be seen from the number of 54% of medical practitioners that supports the legalization of euthanasia, and only 36% oppose it (Glasgow University Physician Assisted Suicide Report, 1996). While from the public’s perspective, 82% of the society supports the voluntary euthanasia to be legalized according to British Social Attitudes Report (1996). Other than a law procedure, the idea behind the legalization of euthanasia can be understood through simple and common point of view. Ida was a 34 single lady, who was diagnosed to throat cancer. By the time the disease was discovered, it was too late to make a healing treatment and it makes her depends on the medical help system to breathe. With the medical attached on her body, the doctor estimated that her lifespan will be 2 years. In the end of the day, Ida decided to voluntary do euthanasia, giving up the painful and expensive 2 years life for peaceful death. Due to the terminally sick patients themselves and their family, euthanasia should be legalized.

            The terminally sick patients themselves can be one of the reasons why euthanasia should be legalized considering their dignity as a human and his or her human rights.

To die with dignity will be the border appeal to bring the humanity to support legalization of euthanasia. When it comes to a human’s life that is talked about, dignity is usually seen as the divine line to protect the value of life. Loss of autonomy and dependency from medical treatment or illness leads the patients to prefer die with dignity. According to a survey done about the underlying reason of people who do euthanasia, 84% was because of the fear of losing their autonomy. “The original primary purpose of the concept of dignity was to ensure respect for life.” And therefore, “The concept of dignity must be used to maintain respect for the life of each person, and for human life and for the essence of our humanness, in general” (Somerville, 2009). In the end of the day, euthanasia enables people to decide when, where, and how they will end their life and hence, it allows them to choose a proper and respectful way to die for the sake of their life. ”In general dignity as the actualisation of capacity argues that euthanasia is justified on an account of dignity and dignity as the ability to have the capacity against the permissibility of euthanasia” (Bornebroek, 2011).

            The consideration about human’s right that underlying a decision for euthanasia also support the legalization of the law to protect its application. The Amnesty International (2012) defines human rights as basic rights and freedoms that all people are entitled to regardless of nationality, sex, national or ethnic origin, race, religion, language, or other status. The humans’ right to life does have wider implication that leads to freedom for anyone to decide what they want to do with their life. It explains how dying, as the part of life can also be decided or requested by the person himself. And therefore, the legalization of law about euthanasia is needed to protect both the patient and the doctors in respecting human rights. “Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.” (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966). In addition, in the conclusion of his paper, Dr Brian Pollard (1998) states that euthanasia cannot be considered without reference to human rights, but all relevant rights should be included.

Other than the patient himself, the influence by family strengthen the making of decision to do euthanasia, and hence should be another consideration of how euthanasia should be legalized. Even in an active euthanasia, the patient might have other deliberations which are less egoistic such as family. This perspective comes from the mental and economical sufferings of the family.

It is humane instinct that people have empathy when they see their loved one suffering.  Moreover, it is possible that the feelings excessively and mentally hurt them rather than the patients themselves.  According to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (n.d.), in most cases, drugs and medical helps that was employed to the patients are given nearly as often for the comfort of the patient’s family as they were given to reduce the suffering of the patient themselves. The other fear comes from the grief that the family suffer after the death. However, knowing that the family has relieved the suffering of the patient through euthanasia will ease them to cope from the grief. “The bereaved family and friends of cancer patients who died by euthanasia coped better with respect to grief symptoms and post-traumatic stress reactions than the bereaved of comparable cancer patients who died a natural death.” (Swarte, 2003).

The other issue that comes from family is the fear of financially being a burden to the family. As the medical technology has improved over the time, the cost of medical treatment has also increased as well as the household expenditure on health. According to Singapore Department of Statistics (n.d.), it is shown that from the year of 1997/98 to 2007/08, the household expenditure on health has increased from 3.5& to 5.3%. The possible question would be: “Why should people pay so much money for only a temporary relieve when the final result is still the same??”.  Based on the estimated numbers made by The Life Resources Charitable Trust (2011), the cost of drugs for assisted suicide $35.00 while the cost of proper health care $35,000-40,000. Lisa was a 60 years old mother of 3 children. She was diagnosed to have lungs cancer in critical level. In the same time, her second daughter was about to get married, and her last son was about to enter college. Under that family condition, she gathered the entire family member and announced her decision to do euthanasia with consideration that she will be able to allocate the cost of the palliative care to her family. 

In conclusion, the legalization of euthanasia for terminally ill patient should be done due to several reasons related to the patients themselves and the suffering of the patients’ family. From the patients’ perspective, euthanasia should be legalized considering human dignity and human rights. While from the family factor, mental suffering and financial considerations support euthanasia. The elaboration above clarifies that euthanasia cannot be seen as a crime but as a reasonable and considerable way out for certain cases. It also explains why 51.3% of people in Oregon favour the legalization of euthanasia. “By relieving the individual of the pain of her/his condition, euthanasia is not inflicting harm but is an act of non-maleficence towards the human being.  It is an act of love.” (filippo, 1994).

Reference Page

·         BBC - Ethics - Euthanasia: Pro-euthanasia arguments. (2013). BBC - Homepage. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/euthanasia/infavour/infavour_1.shtml

·         Bornebroek, B. (2011). The role of human dignity in justifying euthanasia. Master thesis Applied Ethics. Retrieved from http://igitur-archive.library.uu.nl/student-theses/2011-0908-201508/MasterthesisBenBornebroek.pdf.

·         British Social Attitudes Survey - Euthanasia statistics. (n.d.). EUTHANASIA - FAST ACCESS - LIVING WILLS - EXIT. Retrieved from http://www.euthanasia.cc/97-1dvd.html

·         Death, suffering, and euthanasia. (2010, June). National Center for Biotechnology Information. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2902937/#b22-0560528

·         E Durkheim, Suicide – A study in Sociology, The Free Press, New York, 1951, p.44

·         Essex, K. H. (2000). EUTHANASIA. Retrieved from http://www.tms.edu/tmsj/tmsj11j.pdf.

·         Goel , V. (2008). Euthanasia – A dignified end of life! International NGO Journal, 3(12). Retrieved from http://www.academicjournals.org/ingoj/pdf/pdf2008/December/Goel.pdf.

·         Human Rights Basics | Amnesty International USA. (2013). Amnesty International USA | Protect Human Rights. Retrieved from http://www.amnestyusa.org/research/human-rights-basics

·         LifeIssues.net: Clear thinking about crucial issues. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.lifeissues.net/

·         Singapore Department of Statistics (n.d.). Welcome to Statistics Singapore. Retrieved from http://www.singstat.gov.sg/stats/themes/people/hes.pdf

·         stats. (n.d.). EUTHANASIA - FAST ACCESS - LIVING WILLS - EXIT. Retrieved from http://www.euthanasia.cc/stats.htm

·         Swarte, N. B. (2003). Effects of euthanasia on the bereaved family and friends: a cross sectional study | BMJ. Home | BMJ. Retrieved from http://www.bmj.com/content/327/7408/189

·         The Life Resources Charitable Trust (2011). Impact of Euthanasia on the Family | The Life Resources Charitable Trust. a new zealand resource for life related issues. Retrieved from http://www.life.org.nz/euthanasia/euthanasiakeyissues/impact-on-family/

Abolition of Capital Punsihment

Abolition of Capital Punishment

The death penalty was established for the first time in eighteenth century B.C. by King Hammaurabi of Babylon who addressed the death penalty for 25 different crimes. However, many efforts of abolitions from both countries and societies have been done ever since. According to Snell, the BJS Statistician (2010), for the tenth consecutive year before 2010, the number of inmates under sentence of death has decreased. Moreover, during 2010, 119 inmates were removed from under sentence for certain reasons.  Why does the capital punishment reduce over the time?? Does the world start being aware of the other value behind justice?? According to Albert Camus, French philosopher (n.d.), capital punishment is the most premeditated of murders. Furthermore, capital punishment should be abolished due to its flawed purposes and subjects.

The flawed purpose of deterrence’s effect of a capital punishment is one of the reasons why capital punishment should be abolished.  According to Oxford Dictionary (n.d.), deterrence is a thing that discourages or is intended to discourage someone from doing something. Based on the purpose of the deterrence itself, people or countries usually consider punishment as fairness that potentially builds the foundation of justice. Yet, capital punishment, as one of the commonly used punishment for murders might have some weaknesses that make it less effective.

                Currently, capital punishment fails to confirm the Justice among people in terms of its deterrence purposes. According to Dillulio (1959), general deterrence is designed to prevent crime in the general population, while specific deterrence is designed to deter only the individual offender. Ideally, deterrence should contain both types of deterrence. Yet, capital punishment does not really cover those two main purposes of deterrence. In terms of general deterrence, death penalty has been considered as the heaviest punishment to build the society’s awareness of justice and to prevent the inmates repeating crimes. However, a study of National Research Council (2012) claims that the effect of capital punishment has fundamentally flawed. Also, a survey done by Professor Radelet and Lacock of the University of Colorado (2009) revealed that over 88% believed that capital punishment is not really deterrent to murder. Moreover, According to the Death Penalty Information Center, the murder rate in non-death penalty states has remained consistently lower than the rate in states with the death penalty.

Also, in terms of specific deterrence, death penalty does not give any chance to the offender to be a better person in future. It has been a debate whether the consequences of capital punishment abolition can be ideally replaced by rehabilitation due to its positive impact to the offender, victims, and also the society. Lucky Simayile, who had been in and out of jail for more than 10 times, grew up in locations around South Africa surrounded by guns and gun fights. During his service, he was given chances to perform a theatre about the same theme: ‘Don’t do Crime’ as one of the rehabilitation method. After being given a chance to go back to the society on parole, he met a founder and director of the Ekhaya Multi Arts Centre in Kwa Mashu, which leads him, in 2009 to be nominated for the Mercury Durban Theatre Award for best supporting actor, for his role in “Madame President”. Also, Braithwaite (1989), believes that integrative process can help offenders to repair their offences, and at the same time, to help both offenders and victims to learn something of each other. “While the state and the public have a vested interest in prisoners leaving prison as no more of a social burden than when they went it, if rehabilitative efforts are to have any real impact, they must take into account the lessons of the past” (Champbell, 1989).

                Flawed subject of punishment, including the possibility of execution on innocence and the uneven crime level where the death penalty is put on, will strengthen the idea that capital punishment should be abolished. Since the death penalty has more massive effects, compares to incarceration, the case will be more subjective and hence, it is harder to decide. Moreover, given the fact that a sentence is put based on many factors and consideration, there will be less accuracy in giving a death penalty.

The possibility of addressing a wrong punishment by putting an execution on innocence makes the capital punishment even less effective as deterrence. Oppositely, it encourages the society to against the justice system rather than respect the law. According to Potas and Walker (1987), there is always a possibility that an innocent person may be executed. This idea can be best illustrated by the case of Timothy Evans, who was executed in United Kingdom in 1950 for murders before it was subsequently found to have been committed by the notorious John Christie and was posthumously pardoned. This possibly happens due to the fact that a sentence of a person will not depend on a single party. Moreover, the consideration will arise involving several parties such as jurors, prosecutors, witnesses, defendant and the evidence. On the other hand, leakages in the justice system itself lessen the accuracy of a sentence.  Either the justice system or the determining people can be mistaken, and hence leads to the execution of innocence. According to International Amnesty (2012), 130 innocent people have been executed in USA since 1973. “The death penalty legitimizes an irreversible act of violence by the state and will inevitably claim innocent victims. As long as human justice remains fallible, the risk of executing the innocent can never be eliminated” (International Amnesty, 2011).

The other weakness of death penalty is that there is no specific standard or level of crime where people deserve a capital punishment.  This allows the same level of punishment to be put on the different level of crime. For example, two of the Bali Nine, who were involved in smuggling 8.3 kg of heroin in Bali, were end up sentenced to execution. While on the other case, Abu Bakar Bashir, the leader of the terrorist group which carried out the 2002 Bali bombings, killing over 200 people, including 88 Australians was only sentenced to 15 years in jail. As reported in "Death sentences anger Australia", Television New Zealand on 7 September 2006, this comparison was used by the Australians to criticize the death penalty. The uneven level of crime where the death penalty is put on will invite more critics rather than represents deterrence to other future crimes.

In conclusion, recent cases and statistics have proven that capital punishment is less effective and therefore should be abolished. The reasons can be mainly because of its flawed purposes and subjects. A data shown by FBI (n.d.) saying that in 2008, 14 states without capital punishment had homicide rates at or below the national rate can be the evidence of the failure of capital punishment to deter crimes. On the other hand, less accuracy of the subject of capital punishment might cause an execution of innocence and an uneven level of crime where the death penalty is put on. It is shown by 140 people have been released from death rows throughout the country due to evidence of their wrongful conviction since 1973, and in the same time period, more than 1,200 people have been executed (Amnesty international, 2012). "What says the law? You will not kill. How does it say it? By killing!" (Victor Hugo, n.d.).

                                                                                                                                     

References

"Death sentences anger Australia". Television New Zealand. 7 September 2006. Retrieved 17 September 2011.

Abu Bakar Bashir. (n.d.). In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved December 28, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Bakar_Bashir

Amnesty International USA | Protect Human Rights. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.amnestyusa.org/pdfs/DeathPenaltyFactsMay2012.pdf

Australian Coalition Against Death Penalty (ACADP). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://acadp.com/?3e3ea140

Bali Nine. (n.d.). In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved December 28, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bali_Nine

Onwudiwe, I. D., Odo, J., & Onyeozili, E. C. (n.d.). Deterrence Theory. Retrieved from http://marisluste.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/deterrence-theory.pdf.

Part I: History of the Death Penalty | Death Penalty Information Center. (n.d.). Death Penalty Information Center. Retrieved from http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/part-i-history-death-penalty

Potas, I., & Walker, J. (1987). Capital Punishment. Trends & Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, 3. Retrieved from http://www.aic.gov.au/documents/F/6/D/%7BF6D67388-75E0-4CBC-8181-E0BF0204D3CF%7Dti03.pdf.

Retrieved from http://www.antideathpenalty.org/quotes.html.

Retrieved from http://www.sagoodnews.co.za/blog/convicts_can_be_rehabilitated.html

Retrieved from www.amnestyusa.org/pdfs/DeathPenaltyFactsMay2012.pdf

SAFE California | ✔ Savings ✔ Accountability ✔ Full Enforcement. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.safecalifornia.org/downloads/2.6.B_deterrence.pdf

Snell, T. L. (2011). Capital Punishment, 2010 – Statistical Tables. Bureau of Justice Statistics · Statistical Tables. Retrieved from http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/cp10st.pdf.

The Death Penalty and Deterrence | Amnesty International USA. (n.d.). Amnesty International USA | Protect Human Rights. Retrieved from http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/death-penalty/us-death-penalty-facts/the-death-penalty-and-deterrence

Causes of Stress

Causes of Stress

“Depression is among the leading causes of disability worldwide” (World Health Organization, n.d.). Stress has been the root cause and also the result of what people do these days. The Oxford Dictionary (2012), defines stress as a pressure or tension exerted on a material object. APA (2010) also elaborates various causes of stress such as money (76%), works (70%), relationship (55%), and personal safety (30%). Furthermore, stressors that usually occur in adults include work -related and social stressors.

Work-related stressors, as it happens mostly in adults, can be in form of overwork, low salary, and job insecurity. Leka, Griffiths, and Cox (n.d.) defines work-related stress as the response people may have when presented with work demands and pressures that are not matched do their knowledge and abilities and which challenge their ability to cope. Moreover, according to American Psychological Association (2011), work stress can be caused by several factors such as low salaries (20%), Lack of opportunity for growth or advancement (15%), too heavy work load (13%), unrealistic job expectations (13%), and long hours of working (12%).

Overwork can personally cause work-related stress in workers. Different from a normal work, overwork requires full attention as well as long-term. Hence, overwork forces our brain to work harder and longer. Furthermore, the tense from overwork will also affect the workers’ performance due to the physical and psychological reasons. People who are involved in though and continuous work will tend to have poorer health condition. This is because overwork encourages people to work beyond the capacity of their body and causes lack of rest. It is also supported by related issue about O2 Company that was charged nearly £110,000 to an accountant who suffered health problem due to excessive working hours and demanding workload. Aside from that, overwork can psychologically cause satiety of the work itself, which will lead to the decrease of working performance.

Low salary also causes work-related or organizational stress. Money has been the major reason why people seek for job. Hence, most people take money as the parameter of success. That idea even makes the level of income even more tangible as stressor. Ideally, level of income of a person is relative to the type and tense of the job. However, a medical research has been done to show the correlation. According to Cohen, Doyle, and Baum (2006), lower the income and education levels, the higher the levels of three stress hormones epinephrine, norepinephrine and cortisol. Moreover, low salary contributes to lower work satisfaction. Work satisfaction does matter since it measures how the hard work is paid – off. On the other words, high salary can be defined as high work satisfaction that will reduce the level of work – related stress.

Job insecurity adds more chances in being stressed by work. “Security is both a feeling and a reality” (Schneier, 2008). It is a humans’ nature that people will always try to avoid and prevent insecurity in their life. The hierarchy of needs, by Psychologist Abraham Maslow (1943), explains that people will be motivated to fulfil their basic needs before they move to more advanced needs. It is said that security and safety is on the basic needs right after physical requirement needs like food and water. That is why insecurity strongly affects people’s mental condition.  

            Social stressor that commonly occurs in adult can arise from family relationship and relationship with friends. Relation among the family members usually becomes the major concern of adults that might cause social stress. This is reasonable due to the survey done by the American Psychological Association (2011), that states that having a good relationship with family has the highest rate in importance (88%), and as well as achievement (68%) for parents. Since family is where someone is being grown up, it strongly influences someone’s behaviour and mental condition. The negative side of family relationship influence might result social stress.

      Negative relationships in a family, such as a divorce, will also affect someone’s psychologically in long term. “Family relationships provide a certain link to your past and future that you can't get elsewhere” (Scott, 2007). Leny, a 30 years-old woman, has experience being abused by her husband since the first time they got married. The trauma occurred from the abuse makes her, over the time, hates guys and turn into a lesbian after their divorce. The story describes how a family relationship might also result a deeper social stress in a person. According to Juliusdottir et al.(1995), effects of divorce on adults increased psychological problems amongst the divorcees and their children as well as radical changes in family relationships.

On the other hand, poor relationship with friends also causes social stress to adults due to several reasons. Firstly, since adults are more burdened with more responsibilities such as work and households activities, they spend less time to socialize. As stated by United States Department of Labour (2011), employed adults spend only 30 minutes a day to socialize with others. This minor yet constant reduce of relationship maintenance can lead someone to lose the sense of belonging and loneliness.

For most people, relationships with friends would not really bother them. However, as humans are social beings, being ‘isolated’ from the society will cause social stress. Oppositely, positive friend relationships will help people reduce stress. “Having an intimate relationship that encourages confiding in one another has the largest effect on attenuating stress outcomes.” (Lackey, n.d., p.3).

In the end of the day, stressors that are commonly experienced by adults include work-related stress and social stress. Overwork, low salary, and job insecurity can be classified as the roots of work-related stress. While social stress, might occurs from family relationships, and friend relationships. However, regardless the type and the trigger of the stress, it can affect the people both physical and psychologically. “Stress is the trash of modern life — we all generate it but if you don't dispose of it properly, it will pile up and overtake your life.” (Guillemets, 2012).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  References

American Psychological Association (2011). Survey Summary American Psychological Association Harris Interactive March 2011. Stress in the Workplace, 14. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/phwa-survey-summary.pdf.

COHEN, S., DOYLE, W. J., & BAUM, A. Socioeconomic Status Is Associated With Stress Hormones. Retrieved from http://www.psy.cmu.edu/~scohen/ses_and_stress_hormones.pdf.

Family Relationships: Family Connection and Happiness. (n.d.). Stress and Stress Management - Causes, Symptoms, Stress Relief Tips and Stress Tests. Retrieved from http://stress.about.com/od/familystress/qt/family.htm

Johnsson, F. H., Njardvik, U., Olafsdottir, G., & Gretarsson, S. J. (2000). Parentla Divorce: Long - term effects on mental health, family relations and adults sexual behaviour.Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 41, 101-105. Retrieved from http://faculty.weber.edu/tlday/human.development/study1.pdf.

Leka , S., Griffiths, A., & Cox, T. (n.d.). Work Organization & Stress. Protecting Workers' Health Series, 3. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/occupational_health/publications/en/oehstress.pdf.

Nasurdin, A. M., Ramayah , T., & Kemaresan , S. (n.d.). ORGANIZATIONAL STRESSORS AND JOB STRESS AMONG MANAGERS: THE MODERATING ROLE OF NEUROTICISM . Retrieved from http://ramayah.com/journalarticlespdf/organizationalstressors.pdf.

Nowack, K. M., & Wimer, S. (n.d.). Organizational Stress Management: Survival Strategies for Turbulent Times. Retrieved from http://www.envisialearning.com/assets/resources/27/48-abstractFile.pdf?1269662163.

Schneier , B. (2008). The Psychology of Security. Retrieved from http://www.schneier.com/essay-155.html.

Sonnentag, S., & Frese, M. (n.d.). STRESS IN ORGANIZATIONS. Retrieved from http://bschool.nus.edu/Departments/ManagementNOrganization/publication/MichaelFreseJournal/sonnentag%20frese%20stress%20handbook%2003.pdf.

What Causes Stress in Adults? | eHow.com. (n.d.). eHow | How to Videos, Articles & More - Discover the expert in you. | eHow.com. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/list_7296149_causes-stress-adults_.html