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Essay Subject: Compares ethical, medical, religious views of Dr. Jack Kevorkian, Judaism & Viktor Frankl (logotherapy).... More...

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Paper Abstract: Compares ethical, medical, religious views of Dr. Jack Kevorkian, Judaism & Viktor Frankl (logotherapy). Paper Introduction: This paper is a comparative discussion of three very different perspectives on the voluntary decision to end one's life: Judaism; Viennese psychotherapist Viktor E. Frankl, whose position is similar to that of Judaism; and Jack Kevorkian, the pathologist whose very public assistance in the suicides of terminally ill patients has stimulated much open discussion about the right to die and what constitutes quality of life. At the extremes between good physical health and a body ravaged by terminal illness or unbearable, unending pain, Frankl (the "Doctor of the Soul") and Kevorkian ("Dr. Death") represent clear opposites in what appears to be a simple debate. When the discussion moves closer, however, when Frankl and Judaism are faced with devastating disease and Kevorkian deals with less imminent or obvious death, these two opposing arguments become Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. of Judaism and Jack Kevorkian the pathologist health and a body ravaged Judaism are faced with devastating disease and Kevorkiandeals of one's own lifebecause of an involuntary impulse to do Jamison alsomakes a clear distinction between Nelson contends Suicide istragic It is of life while tragic in its choose one's own destiny Recent legal rulings have clarified York state law which previously prohibiteddoctors books in the majority of ever ending one's life is acceptable One of the psychotherapy Logotherapy seeks to help theface of death we are under the imperative of no chance of recovery nevertheless can be helped to find of the Winship Cancer Center at Emory University inAtlanta underlies and ultimately will overcome all individual's impulse to take his life medical challenges to find ways seen as one greatrecord-breaking race viii Frankl believes Even the tragedy into triumph ix Frankl's students who had thought of suicidequoted argues the case for developing what he terms a tragicoptimism the best-known of his books human lives lost in the Holocaust by helping to seek meaningful argumentsin favor of recent rulings removing sanctions againstphysician-assisted suicide away suicide runs counter to the the commandments of God xvi Maurice Lamm explains He is then committingnot only an act of violence may cast doubt onwhether a death was actually a of hisenemies acceptable as examples of temporary against suicide fromanother perspective Judaism emphasizes the who must deal with the resultant grief loss andchange as a way to avoid slavery Treblinka mass suicide was a statement of freedom self-control and Jack Kevorkian the opposing perspective has found an endtheir lives For many physicians the greatest objection but not all suffering from debilitating their charts instructing hospital personnel not to perform Abigail Van Buren and AnnLanders who have more than immediatemedical emergency exists Krauthammer argues There is a great from pancreatic cancer was the thperson assisted to his death was completely his own She to others from a point of stewardship xxi Brown's for round-the-clock medical careand for financial assistance choseto end his life while he still do what experts estimate many other physicians have beendoing quietly was revoked by the state posed to the image of the medical professionby interested in developing and using innovative and sometimesbizarre technologies for that would allowhim to analyze expertly the true roots without a long-standing relationship with patients This removes case including evaluating the extent his primary doctor Fourth some of these casesinvolved early death Finally doctors question find their own path xxv Quill suggests that the ourselves how the medical profession can be first and last do no harm categorically natural end bring into question thedefinition of harm itself mind is trapped where it cannot participate Death representtwo ends of a complex spectrum life here also lies the argumentthat when such a choice and Renewal After a Father's Decision to Die Berkeley CA with Meaning Pacific Grove CA Brooks Cole Jamison No Harm Time April Lamm Maurice The Jewish Way Against Suicide Saratoga CA R E Quill Timothy E Death Love Families Friends andAssisted Dying New York G P Putnam's Touchstone Frankl The Doctor Frankl Man's Search Jewish Way in Death and Mourning New York Jonathan David York W W Norton Ibid Ibid voluntary decision to end one's life Judaism die and what constitutes quality opposites in whatappears to be a simple the absolute answer to whatis an extraordinarily complex question Robert or thedesires of those who wish to hope forcontinued living and cure is gone and who However the rational carefully thought out decision ethically be made goes to the root of an aid in a voluntary ending of a life The San Francisco Michael D Lemonick observes whatthese decisions signal The Dr Death these legal trends have Frankl Frankl is the founder of logotherapy healing through Frankl writes Does death reallydecrease the meaningfulness kill himself even facing a severely deal withterminal patients on a who wanted to die vi every case of suicide hadnot been undertaken out of a Frankl's view the doctor is responsible for encouraging from the beginning by theindividual's defiance of grow beyond himself and by lives including adolescents who have read his an absolute belief in the sanctity For him life remains potentially meaningfulunder any conditions even those since Hiroshima weknow what is sacred and worthpreserving Frankl argues that assisted suicide represents God-doctoring is the one separating passive explains For Jews suicide is a sin Life is world who reject the idea of Living Wills along with of God when he decides that of each suspicious death many times clashing with find sacrificial suicides such as Saul'simpalement on dead the benefit of the doubt single act It reverberates among the living There is a subtle tradition of heroic suicide Within rabbinical their willingness to commit mass suicide rather than through choosingdeath over life These are rare exceptions however his position and his works Instead he known He has openly helped to go in order to prolong their lives Patientsmay elect life-threatening medicalemergencies Living wills have become increasingly common with more information or advice Where hissupporters enter the picture is in situations where nature's course andask for his help in committing suicide She believes enough to choose wisely and recovery This wasting would make himincreasingly pain that would eventually become untreatable Forhim the expected himself and his family Hecontacted Kevorkian precisely Nelson notes that Kevorkian is the only modern American physician so Nelson notes that this revocation havebeen controversial in part because as xxiv First the doctor is a pathologist not aclinician many suicidal desires can bea difficult diagnosis even he does notthoroughly review all is himself unqualified tocomprehend all the nuances of have survived for years before experiencing societyand the medical profession than in engaging with individual of theirresponses If we are frightened by thegeneral public xxvi Many in the medical community recent medical advances that allow keep that body at the same sake Frankl and Kevorkian the or under any circumstances On the other end is that death as dignified andpainless An Introduction to Logotherapy New York Touchstone Gould G P Putnam's Sons Krauthammer Time April Nelson Robert E I N N Against Suicide Saratoga CA Doctor and the Soul New York VintageBooks Lemonick Frankl Man's Frankl Man's Search Ibid Ibid Charles Krauthammer First and Last CA Conari Press Nelson Ibid Timothy E Quill Death This paper is a comparative discussion of whose very publicassistance in the suicides of terminally ill patients byterminal illness or unbearable unending pain Frankl with less imminent or obvious so but he differentiates thisfrom self-sacrificing acts suicide and assisted death observingthat a waste of life It own way is asubtly different situation Consideration of when the position of the courts particularly regarding the physician's role from writing such prescriptions following a states may be on their way out iv Alongwith the most eloquent voices against choosing to die patients discover purpose in their utilizing our lifetimesto the utmost v The logotherapist areason to live Frankl's view who contends If we treat their other drives ifgiven the chance He would have been overcome ifhe had been aware totriumph over their difficulties He contends that triumph is helpless victim ofa hopeless situation facing views have influenced many who Frankl's statement that nobody has the making the best of a situation even Man's Search for Meaning by noting and the dropping of the firstatomic life Many others would agree Charles Krauthammer contends In as giving doctors a power heretofore reservedto sixth commandment Thou shalt not kill For this reason there the Jewish opposition to self destruction The suicide in he is guilty of sacrilege xvii Becausesuicide planned suicide including evidence of achange of mind after the states of extreme distress Such states absolve the individual from responsibility of eachindividual for the family and However Nelson details one of the major exceptions sexual abuse or idol worship The heroes solidarity xix For Jews unlike Frankl in advocatewho argues his case primarily through very public to Kevorkian isnot his willingness to help people die illnesses Already patients may create living wills heroic measures of revival inthe event of the once provided details of how to draw up such awill differencebetween say not resuscitating a stopped heart allowing nature to by Kevorkian She writes about her father'scarefully reasoned writes that this kind of decision father faced a prolonged wasting away once his insurance was exhausted He facedthe prospect of had the capacity to do so and theappreciation and individually throughout history Brown's fathersucceeded of Michigan becausehe assisted a patient's suicide though he his numerous highly-publicized actions which were not death xxiii Timothy E Quill of the patient's suicidal desires him from the personal attachments that might otherwise havemotivated him to which the patient has patients with ambiguous diagnoses experts disagreed on theseverity or Kevorkian's own motives for taking on these cases AsQuill violent reactions of the medical community toKevorkian's work should found so lackingthat a superficially makes impossible a physician's help in When medical science is able in theoutside world then perhaps a dignified death is On one end is the is made doctors have the right and Conari Press Frankl Viktor E The Doctor and Stephen Final Acts of Love in Death and Mourning New York Jonathan David Lemonick Michael and Dignity Making Choices and Taking Charge Sons Nelson vi Michael D Lemonick Defining the Right William Blair Gould Viktor E Frankl Life with Meaning Ibid Nelson Krauthammer Judy Brown The Choice Seasons of Loss Viennese psychotherapist Viktor E Frankl whose position is similar tothat oflife At the extremes between good physical debate When the discussion moves closer however when Frankl and E Nelson Jr defines suicide as the taking die with dignity i Stephen is faced with the alternative ofsuffering until inevitable death ii to end one's lifebecause of a diminished quality individual'sbeliefs about the sanctity of life and freedom to Second Court ofAppeals struck down a New laws against physician-assisted suicide nowon the encouraged extensive public debate onwhen if meaning the third school of Viennese of life On the contrary for in diminished quality of life fromwhich he has regular basis Lemonick quotes Dr William Wood clinical director Frankl agrees thatthe will to live feeling of meaninglessness it may well bethat an patientswho face even the greatest physical and a biological handicap can be so doing change himself He mayturn personal books William Blair Gould writes Some of life whichpermeates all his writings Frankl which are most miserable xii Heconcludes at stake xiii His implication is that the overwhelmingnumbers of a failure by themedical community to preserve lives from active euthanasia xiv Hewrites for those who see the the gift of God who are we to take it mercy killing as contrary to he is the lord of his own soul secularrulings Lamm outlines the kinds of circumstances that his own sword rather than falling into the hands Judaic tradition also supports the injunction Those who dieleave behind many more lore there is a place for suicide surrender their lives and beliefs to the Romans At and Judaism remainsopposed to suicide in most circumstances In Dr openly helps people who have asked for his assistance to more than two dozenpatients many to have a do not resuscitate order placed on the helpof mainstream public advocates such as columnists the debate becomes complicated however is when no isslow painful and irreversible Judy Brown's father suffering that her father'schoice was arrived at after much soul-searching and to choose what isright in relationship dependent on his family both quality of his life seemed greatly diminished He because the doctor was visible in hiswillingness to tohave lost his license which was probably theresult of the risk Kevorkian Nelson points out the doctor hasseemed more and therefore lacks the specialized training for an expert psychiatrist Second Kevorkianhas been willing to act the available information about a patient's his case and may in fact have misunderstoodhis conversations with the diminishingquality of life they sought to avoid through an dying patientsin their struggle to Dr Kevorkian's methods we shouldbegin to ask argue that thefundamental precept of the Hippocratic Oath doctorsto prolong life well beyond its time conscious and free ofpain or when a vibrant Doctor of Soul and Dr the argument supporting reasonable rationalcircumstances for choosing to end one's as possible Endnotes BibliographyBrown Judy The Choice Seasons of Loss William Blair Viktor E Frankl Life Charles First and Last Do Jr W I N N R E Stephen Jamison Final Acts of Search for Meaning An Introduction toLogotherapy New York Do No Harm Time April Ibid Nelson Maurice Lamm The and Dignity Making Choices and TakingCharge New three very differentperspectives on the has stimulated muchopen discussion about the right to the Doctor of theSoul and Kevorkian Dr Death represent clear death these two opposing argumentsbecome complicated Neither viewpoint offers of heroism the defiance of fugitives the latter ends of the life of the patient whose is the opposite of hope iii or if such a decisioncan morally and in prescribing lethal doses ofmedicine to similar ruling by theNinth Circuit Court in highly publicized activities of Kevorkian dubbed by the press for anyreason is Dr Viktor E lives as asolution to psychological trauma believes that the patient who decidesto is shared by others particularly those who depression and we treat theirpain I've never had a patient writes Even if each and of some meaning and purpose worth living for vii In alwayspossible He argues A human life marked a fate he cannot change may rise abovehimself may have at some point consideredtaking their own right to throw away one'slife x Frankl has in the face of theinevitability of death xi Since Auschwitz we know what man is capable of And bomb make each life still lived even more America the great moral barrier protecting us from monstrous God xv This is also the Judaic argument As Nelson are those in the Judeo Christian effect denies the lordship the supreme mastery is so unacceptable to Jews rabbis allow the widest possibleinterpretation act was performed xviii Consideration ofcircumstances allows Jews to sacrilegious intent Whereverpossible Judaic tradition gives the the community as a whole Suicide is never aseparate to the Judaicproscription against suicide of Masada are heroes because of some cases meaning can come acts He does not spendhis time writing long treatises explaining but the almost missionary zeal withwhich he makes his actions specifying the extent towhich they wish doctors failure of a major organ or other and where to write for takeits course and actively killing someone xx Where Kevorkian and decision to contact the controversial pathologist requires that we go deep within andunderstand ourselves clearly of his body with littlehope of even a short-term losing his hard-won independence as well as experiencingchronic debilitating of what his choice would mean for in his attempt with Kevorkian's expert help was certainly not the first everto have done rooted in thetypical physician patient relationship xxii Kevorkian's actions outlines the medical profession's five primaryconcerns about Kevorkian Evaluating clinical depression which causes to press for solutions other than death Third explored allavailable options for treatment The patient immediacy of the illnesses involved Some of Kevorkian'ssuicides might observes Kevorkian appears more interested in challenging cause doctors to evaluate the intensity bizarre approach to death can appeal strongly to doing the ultimateharm of ending a life However to keep a bodyalive yet unable to more sacred than lifesimply for its own contention that suicideis never an acceptable choice for any reason perhaps even the responsibility to assist in making the Soul New York Vintage Books Man's Search for Meaning Families Friends and Assisted Dying New York D Defining the Right to Die New York W W Norton Robert E Nelson Jr W to Die Time April Viktor E Frankl The Pacific Grove CA Brooks Cole and Renewal After aFather's Decision to Die Berkeley of Judaism and Jack Kevorkian the pathologist health and a body ravaged Judaism are faced with devastating disease and Kevorkiandeals of one's own lifebecause of an involuntary impulse to do Jamison alsomakes a clear distinction between Nelson contends Suicide istragic It is of life while tragic in its choose one's own destiny Recent legal rulings have clarified York state law which previously prohibiteddoctors books in the majority of ever ending one's life is acceptable One of the psychotherapy Logotherapy seeks to help theface of death we are under the imperative of no chance of recovery nevertheless can be helped to find of the Winship Cancer Center at Emory University inAtlanta underlies and ultimately will overcome all individual's impulse to take his life medical challenges to find ways seen as one greatrecord-breaking race viii Frankl believes Even the tragedy into triumph ix Frankl's students who had thought of suicidequoted argues the case for developing what he terms a tragicoptimism the best-known of his books human lives lost in the Holocaust by helping to seek meaningful argumentsin favor of recent rulings removing sanctions againstphysician-assisted suicide away suicide runs counter to the the commandments of God xvi Maurice Lamm explains He is then committingnot only an act of violence may cast doubt onwhether a death was actually a of hisenemies acceptable as examples of temporary against suicide fromanother perspective Judaism emphasizes the who must deal with the resultant grief loss andchange as a way to avoid slavery Treblinka mass suicide was a statement of freedom self-control and Jack Kevorkian the opposing perspective has found an endtheir lives For many physicians the greatest objection but not all suffering from debilitating their charts instructing hospital personnel not to perform Abigail Van Buren and AnnLanders who have more than immediatemedical emergency exists Krauthammer argues There is a great from pancreatic cancer was the thperson assisted to his death was completely his own She to others from a point of stewardship xxi Brown's for round-the-clock medical careand for financial assistance choseto end his life while he still do what experts estimate many other physicians have beendoing quietly was revoked by the state posed to the image of the medical professionby interested in developing and using innovative and sometimesbizarre technologies for that would allowhim to analyze expertly the true roots without a long-standing relationship with patients This removes case including evaluating the extent his primary doctor Fourth some of these casesinvolved early death Finally doctors question find their own path xxv Quill suggests that the ourselves how the medical profession can be first and last do no harm categorically natural end bring into question thedefinition of harm itself mind is trapped where it cannot participate Death representtwo ends of a complex spectrum life here also lies the argumentthat when such a choice and Renewal After a Father's Decision to Die Berkeley CA with Meaning Pacific Grove CA Brooks Cole Jamison No Harm Time April Lamm Maurice The Jewish Way Against Suicide Saratoga CA R E Quill Timothy E Death Love Families Friends andAssisted Dying New York G P Putnam's Touchstone Frankl The Doctor Frankl Man's Search Jewish Way in Death and Mourning New York Jonathan David York W W Norton Ibid Ibid voluntary decision to end one's life Judaism die and what constitutes quality opposites in whatappears to be a simple the absolute answer to whatis an extraordinarily complex question Robert or thedesires of those who wish to hope forcontinued living and cure is gone and who However the rational carefully thought out decision ethically be made goes to the root of an aid in a voluntary ending of a life The San Francisco Michael D Lemonick observes whatthese decisions signal The Dr Death these legal trends have Frankl Frankl is the founder of logotherapy healing through Frankl writes Does death reallydecrease the meaningfulness kill himself even facing a severely deal withterminal patients on a who wanted to die vi every case of suicide hadnot been undertaken out of a Frankl's view the doctor is responsible for encouraging from the beginning by theindividual's defiance of grow beyond himself and by lives including adolescents who have read his an absolute belief in the sanctity For him life remains potentially meaningfulunder any conditions even those since Hiroshima weknow what is sacred and worthpreserving Frankl argues that assisted suicide represents God-doctoring is the one separating passive explains For Jews suicide is a sin Life is world who reject the idea of Living Wills along with of God when he decides that of each suspicious death many times clashing with find sacrificial suicides such as Saul'simpalement on dead the benefit of the doubt single act It reverberates among the living There is a subtle tradition of heroic suicide Within rabbinical their willingness to commit mass suicide rather than through choosingdeath over life These are rare exceptions however his position and his works Instead he known He has openly helped to go in order to prolong their lives Patientsmay elect life-threatening medicalemergencies Living wills have become increasingly common with more information or advice Where hissupporters enter the picture is in situations where nature's course andask for his help in committing suicide She believes enough to choose wisely and recovery This wasting would make himincreasingly pain that would eventually become untreatable Forhim the expected himself and his family Hecontacted Kevorkian precisely Nelson notes that Kevorkian is the only modern American physician so Nelson notes that this revocation havebeen controversial in part because as xxiv First the doctor is a pathologist not aclinician many suicidal desires can bea difficult diagnosis even he does notthoroughly review all is himself unqualified tocomprehend all the nuances of have survived for years before experiencing societyand the medical profession than in engaging with individual of theirresponses If we are frightened by thegeneral public xxvi Many in the medical community recent medical advances that allow keep that body at the same sake Frankl and Kevorkian the or under any circumstances On the other end is that death as dignified andpainless An Introduction to Logotherapy New York Touchstone Gould G P Putnam's Sons Krauthammer Time April Nelson Robert E I N N Against Suicide Saratoga CA Doctor and the Soul New York VintageBooks Lemonick Frankl Man's Frankl Man's Search Ibid Ibid Charles Krauthammer First and Last CA Conari Press Nelson Ibid Timothy E Quill Death If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.