Create a new account

It's simple, and free.

3 Perspectives on Voluntary Decision to End Life

This paper is a comparative discussion of three very different perspectives on the voluntary decision to end one's life: Judaism; Viennese psychotherapist Viktor E. Frankl, whose position is similar to that of Judaism; and Jack Kevorkian, the pathologist whose very public assistance in the suicides of terminally ill patients has stimulated much open discussion about the right to die and what constitutes quality of life. At the extremes between good physical health and a body ravaged by terminal illness or unbearable, unending pain, Frankl (the "Doctor of the Soul") and Kevorkian ("Dr. Death") represent clear opposites in what appears to be a simple debate. When the discussion moves closer, however, when Frankl and Judaism are faced with devastating disease and Kevorkian deals with less imminent or obvious death, these two opposing arguments become complicated. Neither viewpoint offers the absolute answer to what is an extraordinarily complex question.

Robert E. Nelson Jr. defines suicide as "the taking of one's own life because of an involuntary impulse to do so," but he differentiates this from "self-sacrificing acts of heroism, the defiance of fugitives, or the desires of those who wish to die with dignity." Stephen Jamison also makes a clear distinction between suicide and assisted death, observing that the latter "ends of the life of the patient . . . whose hope for continued living and cure is gone, and who is faced with the alternative of suffering until inevitable death." Nelson contends, "Suicide is tragic. It is a waste of life. It is the opposite of hope." However, the rational, carefully thought out decision to end one's life because of a diminished quality of life, while tragic in its own way, is a subtly different situation. Consideration of when or if such a decision can morally and ethically be made goes to the root of an individual's beliefs about the sanctity of life and freedom to choose one's own des...

Page 1 of 11 Next >

More on 3 Perspectives on Voluntary Decision to End Life...

Loading...
APA     MLA     Chicago
3 Perspectives on Voluntary Decision to End Life. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 02:25, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1692630.html