676 thorny issues euthanasia lively discussion topics

Lively Discussion Topics

Thorny Issues: Euthanasia
Read the
text

Use a
dictionary if
necessary

Vocabulary
agonizing

My father was lying in bed and was in terrible pain. Six months earlier he had
been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and was admitted to hospital because
he couldn’t breathe on his own anymore and needed constant pain medication.
Now those painkillers, including the morphine drip, couldn’t bring relief
anymore. Every day was an ordeal.
He called me and my brother to his bedside and asked us to help him. Because
of the agonizing pain and the fact that there was no hope whatsoever of
recovery, he wanted us to ask the doctors to help him die. He didn’t want to
suffer, nor lose the little dignity he had still left. I thought it was a fair
request. My brother, however, didn’t see it that way.

cancer
coma(tose)
diagnose
dignity
mandatory
mercy
misery

morphine

Discussion
Questions

ordeal

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

If you were in terrible pain and dying, would you ask for euthanasia?
Do you think people have the right to die or the obligation to live?
If you saw a loved one suffering endlessly and beyond hope, what would you do?
Is euthanasia legal where you live? If so, do you agree? If not, is it done anyway?
Should helping someone die with dignity be punished as a crime?
Should patients in a lifelong coma be euthanized? If so, who decides?
Most people think putting animals out of their misery is an act of mercy.
Should we show mercy to people as well?
8. Wouldn’t it be better if euthanasia was mandatory for all incurable or comatose
patients, as well as for the severely handicapped and convicted murderers?

recovery
relief
painkiller
suffer

terminal

Brainstorm: For and
against
Why euthanasia is a good idea:

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Why euthanasia is a bad idea:

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Lively Discussion Topics
Take a stand: Debate, speak or
write
Prepare a short speech or essay in which you outline
debate.
I am for/against euthanasia because…
Doctors who assist patients…
If I had someone close to me in such a situation…

your point of view or organize a whole-class

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I think…
Killing others is…

People who help others die…

I would never…
Possible exceptions…
Finally…

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Lively Discussion Topics
Teacher Notes & Background
Info
The idea of this lesson is to have a lively discussion on the worksheet topic. Students should be given
a copy of the first sheet of this file.
•

•
•
•

Allow some time for the Reading part. Let students either use a dictionary, put them in small
groups to discuss unknown vocabulary or act as a dictionary yourself. You could also ask them to
guess the meaning of unknown words.
Depending on class size, have a whole-class (or group) discussion/debate using the Discussion
Questions.
Brainstorm: Let students brainstorm either alone or in pairs; after that, they can share their
idea with others.
Take a stand: All students should prepare a short speech or essay. This could be done in group.
As it might be impossible to hear (or read) them all, you could ask groups to assign a number to
each group member (they do not need to tell the teacher). The teacher then picks a random

number (say 1 – 4 if groups have four members) and that student will give a short speech or read
(part of) their essay aloud. Alternatively, organize a whole-class debate (just make sure there
are enough students in each ‘camp’.

These guidelines are of course flexible. A lesson using this worksheet will probably last 45 to 60
minutes (depending on how much time you allow for preparing or writing and on how enthusiastic your
students are).
Euthanasia: The intentional killing by act or omission of a dependent human being for his or her
alleged benefit.
Arguments For Euthanasia:
www.euthanasia.com
• It provides a way to relieve extreme pain
• It provides a way of relief when a person's quality of life is low
• Frees up medical funds to help other people
• It is another case of freedom of choice
Arguments Against Euthanasia:
• Euthanasia devalues human life
• Euthanasia can become a means of health care cost containment
• Physicians and other medical care people should not be involved in directly causing death
• There is a "slippery slope" effect that has occurred where euthanasia has been first been
legalized for only the terminally ill and later laws are changed to allow it for other people or to
be done non-voluntarily.
Reasons for Euthanasia
• Unbearable pain
• Right to commit suicide
• People should not be forced to stay alive
Arguments Against Euthanasia
• Euthanasia would not only be for people who are "terminally ill"
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• Euthanasia
can become
a means of health care cost containment
PhilipR• Euthanasia will become non-voluntary
• Euthanasia is a rejection of the importance and value of human life

www.euthanasia.com

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Lively Discussion Topics
Euthanasia
also called mercy killing

www.Britannica.com

act or practice of painlessly putting to death persons suffering from painful and incurable
disease or incapacitating physical disorder or allowing them to die by withholding treatment
or withdrawing artificial life-support measures. Because there is no specific provision for it
in most legal systems, it is usually regarded as either suicide (if performed by the patient
himself) or murder (if performed by another). A physician may, however, lawfully decide
not to prolong life in cases of extreme suffering; and he may administer drugs to relieve
pain, even if this shortens the patient’s life. In the late 20th century, several European
countries had special provisions in their criminal codes for lenient sentencing and the
consideration of extenuating circumstances in prosecutions for euthanasia.
The opinion that euthanasia is morally permissible is traceable to Socrates, Plato, and the
Stoics. It is rejected in traditional Christian belief, chiefly because it is thought to
contravene the prohibition of murder in the Ten Commandments. The organized movement

for legalization of euthanasia commenced in England in 1935, when C. Killick Millard founded
the Voluntary Euthanasia Legalisation Society (later called the Euthanasia Society). The
society’s bill was defeated in the House of Lords in 1936, as was a motion on the same
subject in the House of Lords in 1950. In the United States the Euthanasia Society of
America was founded in 1938.
The first countries to legalize euthanasia were The Netherlands in 2001 and Belgium in
2002. In 1997 Oregon became the first state in the United States to decriminalize
physician-assisted suicide; opponents of the controversial law, however, attempted to have
it overturned. In 2009 the Supreme Court of South Korea recognized a “right to die with
dignity” in its decision to approve a request by the family of a brain-dead woman that she
be removed from life-support systems.
The potential of modern medical practice to prolong life through technological means has
provoked the question of what courses of action should be available to the physician and
the family in cases of extreme physical or emotional suffering, especially if the patient is
incapable of choice. Passively doing nothing to prolong life or withdrawing life-support
measures has resulted in criminal charges being brought against physicians; on the other
hand, the families of comatose and apparently terminal patients have instituted legal action
against the medical establishment to make them stop the use of extraordinary life support.

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