Week 7 Reflective Journal

Now that you have completed your Persuasive Rough Draft, reflect back on this process, how it went, what you’ve learned from it, and what you might do differently the next time. Write a brief reflection journal in which you address the following questions (from The Writer’s Way, p. P-6):

1.  What just happened? (What did I/we do?)

2.  What was the purpose of doing this activity? (Why did I/we do it?)

3.  What did the reading in the textbook say about this activity? [For this question, identify one concept, idea, or instruction from the textbook that struck you as interesting or significant.]

4.  What was the point of this reading?

5.  How can I use this activity or information going forward?

Important: Do not write just one-sentence answers to the above questions. Write at least a paragraph for each. You might want to review the additional explanations on p. P-6 before your proceed.

You do not have to use APA Style for this assignment, but your journal must be double spaced.

SEE ATTACHMENT FOR ROUGH DRAFT

Running Head: FACILITATE THE NECESSITY TO DIE 1

FACILITATE THE NECESSITY TO DIE 4

Facilitate the Necessity to Die

English 101

Facilitate the Necessity to Die

More than two million Americans are put on hospice care each year. According to a research published in 2018, the Worldwide Palliative Care Alliance suggested that less than two percent of patents under hospice care (Connor & Gwyther, 2018). While on these terminal care programs nearly all patients suffer from acute pains caused by diseases, suffer the scathing effects of some medication or suffer the humiliation of the deprivations that characterize near death experiences. Unfortunately, there exist retrogressive laws that condemn all of us to untold suffering physical and emotional someday to come as we pass through this final rite of passage. The American government should legalize euthanasia in all states as it enhances human dignity, does not contravene the right to life and saves on medical services resources.

Euthanasia protects patient dignity by eliminating the pain and suffering that seem to precede the death of nearly all human beings. Researchers who have studied the dying stage of patients in different hospitals have described this stage as the most painful entailing physical pains from diseases and medication systems as wells as the psychological pain of leaving loved ones. Most of the patients persevere it all till the day they lose the battle to diseases and conditions. However all religions claim that death is an important process in one’s spiritual life and this acceptance suggests that the process should be painless and be more of celebratory and not the dehumanizing states that many patients are going through as I write this paper. The government should make it easy for an easy and painless passage of the rite by allowing Americans to choose when and how to die when diseases and other conditions have made life unbearable.

Secondly, physician assisted suicide is not against the right to life as critics of the ideology have suggested. Although the drafters of the constitution guaranteed the right to life, they definitely anticipated the death of all as human beings are mortal. On this legal issue around the argument, others have maintained that because one has the right to life, they also have a right to end their own life upon the assessment of a physician on the chances of survival. Another group advocating for euthanasia have argued that we should not unnecessarily force life where it has shown all clear indications of departure it would therefore be cold and insensitive to condemn all human beings to the ruthlessness of some diseases and the medication effects of their treatments.

Furthermore, euthanasia saves on the scarce medical resources and aids the on-time care for other more demanding patients. As indicated earlier, more than two million people are put on hospice or terminal care. Here they are under expensive machines and require caretakers all the time. This personnel should be used on other patients to stop disease progression and treat conditions at their early stages with resources ceded by patients who agree to euthanasia.

In conclusion, euthanasia should be legally protected to protect human dignity towards the end of life by eliminating the pain and suffering caused by terminal diseases and severe accidents. The practice will save the health departments huge expenditures and other resources which can be channeled towards early diagnosis and treatment of other patients. The government should embark on educating the public about the practice to wade of the unfounded criticism that has been raised against euthanasia.

References

Connor, S. R., & Gwyther, E. (2018). The worldwide hospice palliative care alliance. Journal of pain and symptom management, 55(2), S112-S116.