English Journal # 8

We have to have 25 note cards to do, and I’m really behind in my I-Search. I have all my information but I’m not reading anything. I am reading about the history of euthanasia and I have inferred that it has been around for a long time, but with the rise of religion it has become morally and ethically wrong. They used to do it a long time ago and they used to kill people because they were incurable like malaria. Also euthanasia occurs in every society either secretly or in which countries where it is legal wide open. The medical profession and religious groups agree that doctors are not required to use “extraordinary means” to prolong the life of the terminally ill. Sometimes respirators and other life supporting machines are expensive and the family can’t pay for it. When you pull the plug on someone on a respirator, it is the same as euthanasia. I mean how it is okay to pull the plug on someone, but not practice euthanasia. Well now that I think about it I realize that there is a distinct difference, the patient who was on the respirator is already dead, but the patient who wants to kill himself is not dead and shouldn’t have the right to die.
Samar Al Ansari
Grade 8A
6/5/2002