Purpose: To inform the audience about Euthanasia. Thesis: In order to truly understand Euthanasia, it is vitally important to journey through the roots of Euthanasia, the debate of both sides of consent Euthanasia, and explore current laws governing the issue as well as religious involvement. Organizational Pattern: Topical
I.Introduction
A.Attention Getter: Imagine waking up and seeing your self lying in an uncomfortable hospital bed with weeping family members surrounding your side. You notice that there is a long cord connected to your heart. You try really hard to move, but you are too feeble to get up. Would you want one of your family members to decide for you to no longer live or do you want the decision to live.
B.Relevance: From award winning movies to real life situations, almost every culture is influenced by the decision of Euthanasia. As the authors Jennifer Sherer, Ph.D. and Rita Simon, in their book, Euthanasia and Their Right to Die, published in 1999, makes an example of involuntary euthanasia made by Hitler in 1941. All the killings during the Holocaust were committed without the patient’s consent and without them being aware of the approaching act.
C.Credibility: As my mother being a nurse for over twenty-five years, she has gone through many experiences with involuntary and voluntary consents of euthanasia. Furthermore, this past year my grandmother was unable to make a voluntary consent, so my family had to make the choice to disconnect the plug.
D.Thesis: In order to truly understand euthanasia, it is vitally important to journey through the roots of Euthanasia, the debate of both sides of consent euthanasia, and explore current laws governing the issue as well as religious involvement. E.Preview: Therefore, we will first shoot our way back into the history of euthanasia, next, unplug the most popular debates between consent euthanasia, and finally, end it with the religious involvement. Transition: To begin, we will shoot our way back into the history of euthanasia.
II.Body
A.First, I will discuss where the term euthanasia first came from.
1. Jennifer Sherer, Ph.D. and Rita Simon, in their book, Euthanasia and Their Right to Die, published in 1999, the term euthanasia originated from the Greek eu, meaning well, and thanatos, meaning death. a.According to Sherer and Simon, they explained the theory of death came from culturally embedded rituals, myths, and symbols when the individual was able to separate their identity from their tribe as a whole. When death was the only thought in the society, it was usually considered the consequence of evil spirits imposed by either human foes or ghostly demonic forces. b.Considering that euthanasia has sparked alternating debates in North America and Europe, in 1828, the first anti-euthanasia law in the United States was passed in the state of New York. Over several years, my other states followed.
2. In ancient Rome and Greece, euthanasia was an everyday actuality where as many individuals preferred voluntary death to end their suffering. a.The minority of physicians who were part of a Hippocratic School had challenged the widespread acceptance of voluntary death. The ride of Christianity reinforced the Hippocratic position on euthanasia and ended the steady opposition to euthanasia among physicians.