Standardize the core argument in the following examples. Assess the arguments to the best of your ability using Govier’s ARG conditions. If you deem the premises unacceptable, accept them provisionally and continue with your assessment. 1. Voluntary euthanasia, where a terminally ill patient consciously chooses to die, should be made legal. Responsible adult people should be able to choose whether to live or die. Also, voluntary euthanasia would save many patients from unbearable pain. It would cut social costs. It would save relatives the agony of watching people they love die an intolerable and undignified death. Even though there is some danger of abuse, and even though we do not know for certain that a cure for the patient's disease will not be found, voluntary euthanasia should be a legal option for the terminally ill patient. 2. The body has a tremendous ability to heal itself when it has been injured. We have an auto-immune system that fights off infection, the skin naturally regenerates when it has been cut, and the body’s organs can sometimes regenerate after injury. Besides life is a gift from God and it is not up to us to decide when to go. Simply put, euthanasia is wrong. 3. Don’t slam the door on relief for the dying USA Today Editorial Staff Should those who are pledged to preserve and heal life ever hasten its end? Doctors wrestle with that choice more often than they would like. No one knows how many of them give in to a patient’s plea for escape from pain and hopelessness. Some recent cases have been disturbing. Like Michigan doctor Jack Kevorkian, who watched an Alzheimer’s sufferer commit suicide, hooked to a machine he had designed. Or an anonymous doctor who described in the Journal of the American Medical Association how he had given a lethal injection to a cancer patient he didn’t know. These actions cannot be condoned. An article in the New England Journal of Medicine, however offered a different kind of example. A Rochester, N.Y., physician, Timothy Quill, described his agonizing struggle over a long-time patient who refused treatment for terminal leukemia. She eventually requested his help to end her life. Eventually, Dr. Quill wrote the fatal prescription. Many decry that decision; they say aiding suicide is never right.But this case is a dramatic demonstration that, in rare instances, assisting a suicide can be the compassionate thing for a doctor to do. Quill went to great lengths to be sure it was: - He urged his patient, “Diane,” to take treatment that would have given her a 25% chance of survival. She refused, certain that the long odds and treatments’ extreme discomfort weren’t worth it. - Quill knew his patient well. Many discussions with Diane and her family convinced him of her commitment to maintaining dignity and control over her body. - He insisted that Diane speak to a psychologist to ensure that it wasn’t depression that was driving her to suicide. - He advised her to seek help from the Hemlock Society, an organization that advocates the right to die. She did. Dr. Quill treated his patient’s infections as they arose, and he gave her blood transfusions. When her condition worsened and her pain increased, she asked for barbiturates. Quill prescribed the pills and told her both the dosage to assist sleep and the fatal dose. Such meticulous care should be part of all decisions. The desire to free someone from pain is not enough. There has to be more: Fervent efforts to persuade the patient to try other avenues. Herculean attempts to ease the mental and physical anguish that drives people to that decision. Knowledge of the patient and his or her mental state. Ultimately, this life-and-death decision is up to the patient and the doctor. It’s an agonizing choice. It should remain that way. 4. Don’t open the door to assisted suicide Rita L. Marker Steubenville, Ohio — Ruth has received the news she feared. The doctor at the community clinic just told her she has cancer. “Could there be a mistake?” she asks. “No. Both Dr. Clark and I have confirmed the diagnosis.” “How much time do I have?”“Without treatment, five or six months. With treatment, you may have years, but you’d need a lot of care,” her doctor replies. Ruth’s eyes well up with tears. Her son and his family live across the state, and they’ve been struggling financially since he lost his job. “I don’t want to be a burden,” she murmurs. “Well there is another option,” the doctor says. He explains it’s now legal for doctor’s to give a lethal injection or a prescription for suicide. The new “medical service” is called aid in dying.” Ten minutes later, Ruth leaves the clinic, clutching the prescription for the deadly prescription in her hand. Six hours later, she’s dead. Ruth’s story hasn’t happened yet, but it will if actions like those of Dr. Timothy Quill of Rochester, N.Y. reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, are approved/ Quill achieved overnight celebrity status last week when he revealed how he “helped” a patient reach the grave. As this year’s nominee for the Dr. Death award, Quill has turned in a sterling performance, playing the role of the “compassionate” doctor to the hilt. Describing final moments with his patient, known only as “Diane,” Quill wrote, “In our tearful goodbye, she promised a reunion in the future at her favorite spot on the edge of Lake Geneva, with dragons swimming in the sunset.” USA TODAY and others say doctors should be given the right to offer suicide or euthanasia as a treatment option. They’ve looked at the salesman and not the product. The product is death and abandonment. They’ve looked at the packaging and promotion. And missed the cruel reality. Those who will suffer most from “aid in dying” won’t be the wealthy Dianes who talk of favorite Swiss beaches. They’ll be the Ruth’s who live in tiny inner-city apartments, eking out an existence from Social security checks. They’ll be those who fear being a burden on family and society. They’ll be the welfare recipients or those who can’t afford adequate heath care. The price tag on a prescription for death will make it an “option” for the rich, but it may well become the only affordable “treatment” the poor. Those who think that physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia, once unleashed, can