Euthanaisa Essays - Euthanasia, Medical Ethics, Death, Suicide

Euthanaisa Euthanasia Euthanasia is, according to Webster dictionary, the act of killing an individual for the reason of mercy. This paper will examen the issue of active and passive euthanasia. Active euthanasia is an intervention that would cause death to take place when it would not otherwise happen. Passive euthanasia is the decision to withold help from an individual, ultimately leading to the death of the individual. This paper is supposed to deal with the circumstances, if any, that euthanasia, active or passive, would be morally permissible. Before I build the wall of moral delineation between these two scenarios, consider that they are but two possible choices on a broad continuum of options about death. I would suggest that there are three hard points on this continuum; 1. Do not allow death if at all possible 2. Do not interfere with death 3. Death is a choice Under this logic, #1 #1 and #3? Indeed, even the deciding when to exercise #1 means that you are at #3! The circumstances in which euthanasia would be morally permissible must therefore be drawn upon #3 of the continuum. The #3 says that death is a choice and that both passive and active euthanasia are choices of death. Death being a choice indicates that a decision must be made. The decision therefore lies in the hands of the patient, because he has a natural right to his life and his body. This right to life is self-evident and universal. The problem with this argument becomes evident when the patient is not able to present a desicision, whether he is unconscious or has other inabilities of communication or thought processes. Who then, if anybody, should make the decision between intervention preventing death or intervention causing death? Consent then, is the issue that I will base the moral permissibility of euthanasia on. Should euthanasia be morally okay with consent, without consent, both, or neither? First I will argue that euthanasia is morally permissible. Through the continuum, I have concluded that death is a choice. Accepting this viewpoint, you accept that someone should be able to decide to die. Accepting this, then you justify suicide. This argument is not based upon suffering because I have drawn no definition to the acceptable limit of suffering. If suicide is okay, then why not assisted suicide? Remember that just standing idle when you could prevent death is a decision to allow suicide. Arranging an injection with a push button so all the patient has to do is push a button to die would be considered suicide, which is morally acceptable. This would mean that it is acceptable for an individual to die if they were physically capable of doing it themselves. What logic would you deny the same right to those who were mentally competant but physically incapable? A person who is physically incapable of killing themselves must be killed by another if they choose to die. If a p erson has a right to die and cannot physically kill themselves, than euthanasia is the only way they could excersise their choice to death. If a person wants to die because they are in a unfavorable condition, whether the choice to die is implied by the patient at the present, or by instructions previously given, they have a right to chose to die and their choice should be honored. Therefore I believe that euthanasia with consent in one way or another is morally permissible in most circumstances. The moral permissibility of euthanasia without consent now must be considered. Everybody has a right to chose to die if they want to. Who is to chose whether a person should die or not when the person cannot make the decision on their

Great Hammerhead Shark

Great Hammerhead Shark The great hammerhead shark (Sphyrna mokarran) is the largest of the 9 species of hammerhead sharks. These sharks are easily recognized by their unique hammer or shovel-shaped heads. Description The great hammerhead can reach a maximum length of about 20 feet, but their average length is about 12 feet. Their maximum length is about 990 pounds. They have a grayish-brown to light gray back and white underside. Great hammerhead sharks have a notch in the center of their head, which is known as a cephalofoil. The cephalofoil has a gentle curve in juvenile sharks but becomes straight as the shark ages. Great hammerhead sharks have a very tall, curved first dorsal fin and a smaller second dorsal fin. They have 5-gill slits. Classification Kingdom: AnimaliaPhylum: ChordataSubphylum: GnathostomataSuperclass: PiscesClass: ElasmobranchiiSubclass: NeoselachiiInfraclass: SelachiiSuperorder: GaleomorphiOrder: CarcharhiniformesFamily: SphyrnidaeGenus: SphyrnaSpecies: mokarran Habitat and Distribution Great hammerhead sharks live in warm temperate and tropical waters in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. They are also found in the Mediterranean and Black Seas and Arabian Gulf. They undertake seasonal migrations to cooler waters in the summer. Great hammerheads may be found in both nearshore and offshore waters, over continental shelves, near islands, and near coral reefs. Feeding Hammerheads use their cephalofoils for detection of prey using their electro-reception system. This system allows them to detect their prey by electrical fields. Great hammerhead sharks primarily feed at dusk and eat stingrays, invertebrates, and fish, including even other great hammerheads. Their favorite prey is rays, which they pin down using their heads. They then bite at the rays wings to immobilize them and eat the entire ray, including the tail spine. Reproduction Great hammerhead sharks may mate at the surface, which is unusual behavior for a shark. During mating, the male transfers sperm to the female via his claspers. Great hammerhead sharks are viviparous (give birth to live young). The gestation period for a female shark is about 11 months, and 6-42 pups are born live. The pups are about 2 feet long at birth. Shark Attacks Hammerhead sharks are generally not dangerous to humans, but great hammerheads should be avoided due to their size. Hammerhead sharks, in general, are listed by the International Shark Attack File #8 on its list of species responsible for shark attacks from the years 1580 to 2011. During this time, hammerheads were responsible for 17 non-fatal, unprovoked attacks and 20 fatal, provoked attacks. Conservation Great hammerheads are listed as endangered by the IUCN Red List due to their slow reproduction rate, high bycatch mortality and harvest in shark finning operations. The IUCN encourages implementation of shark finning bans to protect this species. References and Further Information ARKive. Great Hammerhead. Accessed June 30, 2012.Bester, Cathleen.Great Hammerhead Shark. Florida Museum of Natural History. Accessed June 30, 2012.Carpenter, K.E. Great Hammerhead: Sphyrna mokarran. Accessed June 30, 2012.Compagno, L., Dando, M. and S. Fowler. 2005. Sharks of the World. Princeton University Press.Denham, J., Stevens, J., Simpfendorfer, C.A., Heupel, M.R., Cliff, G., Morgan, A., Graham, R., Ducrocq, M., Dulvy, N.D, Seisay, M., Asber, M., Valenti, S.V., Litvinov, F., Martins, P., Lemine Ould Sidi, M. Tous, P. and Bucal, D. 2007. Sphyrna mokarran. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.1... Accessed June 30, 2012.Florida Museum of Natural History. 2012. ISAF Statistics on Attacking Species of Shark. Accessed June 30, 2012.Krupa, D. 2002. Why the Hammerhead Sharks Head is In the Shape Its In. American Physiological Society. Accessed June 30, 2012.ScienceDaily. 2010. Hammerhead Shark Study Shows Cascade of Evolution Affected Size, Head Shape. A ccessed June 30, 2012.