Albert Camus once said, “For centuries the death penalty, often accompanied by barbarous refinements, has been trying to hold crime in check: yet crime persists. Why? Because the instincts that are warring in man are not, as the law claims, constant forces in a state of equilibrium.” How can we justify our mistreatment of a person to get additional information or satisfy our personal views because of the punishment, Because one commits a crime does not justify us committing a crime. In some instances we use horrible techniques to get information, The bible states an eye for an eye. Meaning a life for a life, and Going against your morals because you don't feel that justice was served is wrong. Although we do it …show more content…
“(Rainbow) Does that mean that it is ok to stand by and watch a human life be taken? In March 2005 News anchor woman Deborah Davies unveiled several cases of inhumane treatment right here in the United States Arizona prison during a four month investigation. Although the deontological theory states that upholding your duties is considered ethically correct it was not. Mrs Davies report that she found more that twenty cases of prisoners who died in the past few years because of the torture, she showed two cases in which the guards degrade and demoralize the prisoners by releasing dogs on them, using abusive profane language towards them and even using cattle prods and stun guns on them. There were cases where mentally handicapped and blind men were tortured to their deaths which resulted in the death of the two men. “The utilitarian ethical theory is founded on the ability to predict the consequences of an action. To a utilitarian, the choice that yields the greatest benefit to the most people is the choice that is ethically correct. One benefit of this ethical theory is that the utilitarian can compare similar predicted solutions and use a point system to determine which choice is more beneficial for more people.”(Rainbow) Matthew 7:12 says “Do unto others as you will have them do unto you.”(Tyndale) This saying is one of the oldest known to man. It was the basis of many of the ethical systems on which we have used to build
On Death and Dying By Elisabeth Kubler-Ross For my book review, I read On Death and Dying, by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. Dr. Kubler-Ross was the first person in her field to discuss the topic of death. Before 1969, death was considered a taboo. On Death and Dying is one of the most important psychological studies of the late twentieth century. The work grew out of her famous interdisciplinary seminar on death, life, and transition. In this paper, I give a comprehensive book review as well as integrate topics learned in class with Dr. Kubler-Ross' work. Like Piaget's look at developmental stages in children, there are also stages a person experiences on the journey toward death. These five stages are denial/isolation, anger, bargaining,
In Ernest J. Gaines novel A Lesson Before Dying, a young African-American, Jefferson, is caught in the middle of a liquor shootout, and as the only survivor is convicted of murder and sentenced to death. During Jefferson’s trial, his attorney calls him a hog in an effort to persuade the jury that he could not have possibly planned a crime like this. Having heard this, Jefferson’s godmother, Miss Emma, calls on the local school teacher, Grant Wiggins, to visit Jefferson in prison and help prove to the community, more importantly the white people, that Jefferson is indeed a man, not a hog. Throughout the book, Grant often contemplates why he is helping Miss Emma; he debates within himself whether he should stay and help Miss Emma and
“Everyone who commits a crime is not committing a compulsive act” (Wasserstrom 573) and therefore, we should not act impulsively towards them. The punishment should not be grossly out of proportion to the severity of the crime charged, nor should it violate the convicted individual’s dignity. Lastly, there is the aspect of my religion (Catholic) playing a factor in the capital punishment debate. Many people point to the passage in Leviticus, which states that an eye for an eye is God's decree (Costanzo 592).
Last year 23 September 2012. I had a resident called “Mrs X” she was a 72year-old widowed living at ---, a Nursing Care Home. She’s not a religious type of person as she was Atheist. She has lived in the home for the past two years, and during that time I was assigned as her key worker. Mrs X had One Son and 3 grand daughters they are all regular visitors to the home. She has recently been diagnosed with renal failure, and her life expectancy is only a couple of months without dialysis. In the past Mrs X has made it clear that when her “time comes” she wants to be able to stay at Belmont House, and “go quietly”. She has stated that she does not want any treatment that will prolong her life. This means
With major advancement in medical treatments, it is now possible to keep a patient alive, which would not have been possible in former times. This has made end of life issue one of the most controversial issues in healthcare. Medical improvements have set the stage for ethical and legal controversies about not only the patient’s rights but also the family’s rights and the medical profession’s proper role. It is critical that any decision made in such situation is ethical and legal to preserve the rights of the patient and also protect the healthcare institution involved. It is very important when making decisions to discontinue treatments to make sure all other alternatives have been explored.
"Then, just like that, she was gone. I couldn’t hold back the tears, and I don’t think my sunglasses hid them well. I’ve gotten used to my emotions and I only let it all out when they can’t be stifled, so you know this wasn’t a sigh-I’m-gonna-miss-her moment. The sunshine and warm breeze of Friday afternoon was frustrating; dreary, cold, typical-March days are fitting, appropriate for feeling this way, and how nice it was outside was a slap in the face. I later recalled how just a year prior I reversed the phrase A sunny day is no match for a cloudy disposition on a day like this one. I thought I was okay with everything, so what was it that hurt me? She left so easily; she never thinks about
You've sat in your hospital bed for at least three months now, and the pain and boredom is starting to become even more torturous than you could have imagined. The pain that you are experiencing on a day-to-day basis is excruciating; a normal, everyday procedure like using the restroom or getting something to eat is a long, drawn out, and painful ordeal. All of the doctors that you've talked to agree that you are going to die soon from the disease that has infested your body, but even six months sounds like an excruciatingly long amount of time, especially when all you have to occupy your time is lie in a bed painfully, waiting it out. Your family and friends are already distraught by the news; they already know that you are on the brink
Keeping a person alive by excessive treatment might devastate the family and make the dying suffer tremendously in the end. “Advance medical technology that seems to one person a godsend, extending life, may seem to another a curse that only prolong dying. Dignity can be devalued amid technology focused solely on the biological organism.”
1.) Explain how the answers to the self-inventories in the text concerning facts, attitudes, beliefs and feelings about death reflect our societal understanding or lack of understanding of death. I think that the self- inventory question reflected on both our understanding and lack of understanding about death related topics. Some of the answers to the questions on the inventory I knew without look at the answers, but some of the answers actually surprised me. The question about the death certificate was one of the questions that actually surprised me. I assumed before I did the inventory that every death certificate had a specific cause of death that was given on the certificate. Another answer that
What would you do if you were caring for a child whose condition would eventually kill them, but the parents wanted you to try every treatment? In the article “When Living Is a Fate Worse Than Death” by Christine Mitchell, the main point consists of this very question. The choice that hospital staff sometimes must make between keeping a child alive knowing that their condition will eventually take over or trying every procedure in an attempt to keep them alive. I believe that Mitchell does a great job in stating her claim favoring the side that a child with an illness that would, in time, take their life should be allowed to die peacefully rather than enduring painful procedures and bouncing between home and hospitals.
Throughout the history of man there has always existed a sort of rule pertaining to retribution for just and unjust acts. For the just came rewards, and for the unjust came punishments. This has been a law as old as time. One philosophy about the treatment of the unjust is most controversial in modern time and throughout our history; which is is the ethical decision of a death penalty. This controversial issue of punishment by death has been going on for centuries. It dates back to as early as 399 B.C.E., to when Socrates was forced to drink hemlock for his “corruption of the youth” and “impiety”.
(Death Row on Trial 2001: video) Religiously, the death penalty can also be morally justified because the Bible states “an eye for an eye” (Exodus 21:23-27) which can be interpreted as a life for a life.
In the midst of undergoing a serious life-altering incident, one often experiences the feeling of a paradigm shift. It is amazing to see how our perspectives of the world shift when forced to reflect on what is truly important. Such is the way with death. Being near death causes a sharp realization of what is truly important in life--love of family and friends, faith in God, and making the world a better place to live in--and enables one to not merely accept this, but apply it to their life as well. All those typical, average daily worries and concerns about homework, professional careers, food, sleep, personal grooming, etc., while important and necessary in everyday life must seem unbelievably miniscule when the death has wiped ones
We are all aware of death, and we know it will come to us all. To many of us death brings a chill down our spine ridden with fear, but to others it is ridden with strength and satisfaction of accomplishment. Fortunately or unfortunately we are all condemned to death. However no one knows when exactly the inevitable will approach, but we all know it is inescapable. But what makes death seem more realistic to us and those in denial of it is the lucid pictures of people suffering, in pain and those on their death bed before many of us can be rationale and accept the truth. Someone once said, “Life is about 50-70 years of pain. One is born through the mother’s pain and die leaving others in pain.'; How do we accept and
Life After Death All of the major religions believe in life after death. However the ideas from religion to religion can vary greatly. I am going to look at Hinduism and Christianity, two religions that I have been surrounded by all my life, and the different perceptions they have of life after death, and then I will give my own view. "For certain is death for the born and certain is birth for the dead; therefore, over the inevitable thou shouldst not grieve.