Introduction%20to%20Flowers%20for%20Algernon

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Introduction toFlowers for Algernon

• Selective Reduction

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Life Boat Theory

• Imagine that you were on a ship that has just
  sunk. You managed to make it to the last life
  boat. However, there are 9 people on the life
  boat that is only designed for four. So, 5
  people have to either voluntarily get off the
  life boat or be thrown overboard by a majority
  rule. Getting off the life boat means certain
  death.
• Your assignment is to decide who should remain on
  the life boat. The following is a list of the 9
  people on board
• A 17 year-old, mentally-retarded girl
• An infant whose parents died when the ship sank
• A 30 year-old genius
• A 50 year-old who doesnt know that his cancer
  has returned.
• A 70 year-old woman who requires the aid of a
  walker
• An obese, 40 year-old mother of three young
  children
• A ex-convict who was in prison for murder
• You
• Your mother

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Which life should be allowedto exist?

• Premature baby born at just
  Elderly man with a
• 26 weeks gestation
  terminal illness
• 8.6 ounces
  

http//www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-12/2
2/xin_07120122105460401912.jpg
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Euthanasia / Assisted Suicide

• What is the difference between
• euthanasia and assisted suicide?
• One way to distinguish them is to look at the
  last act the act without which death would not
  occur.
• Using this distinction, if a third party performs
  the last act that intentionally causes a
  patients death, euthanasia has occurred. For
  example, giving a patient a lethal injection or
  putting a plastic bag over her head to suffocate
  her would be considered euthanasia.
• On the other hand, if the person who dies
  performs the last act, assisted suicide has taken
  place. Thus it would be assisted suicide if a
  person swallows an overdose of drugs that has
  been provided by a doctor for the purpose of
  causing death. It would also be assisted suicide
  if a patient pushes a switch to trigger a fatal
  injection after the doctor has inserted an
  intravenous needle into the patients vein.

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Euthanasia / Assisted Suicide
Assisted Suicide in Italy
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Definitions of Euthanasia

• Euthanasia the intentional killing by act or
  omission of a dependent human being
• for his or her alleged benefit. (The key word
  here is "intentional". If death is not
• intended, it is not an act of euthanasia)
• Voluntary euthanasia When the person who is
  killed has requested to be killed.
• Non-voluntary When the person who is killed made
  no request and gave no
• consent.
• Involuntary euthanasia When the person who is
  killed made an expressed wish to
• the contrary.
• Assisted suicide Someone provides an individual
  with the information, guidance,
• and means to take his or her own life with the
  intention that they will be used for
• this purpose. When it is a doctor who helps
  another person to kill themselves it is
• called "physician assisted suicide."
• Euthanasia By Action Intentionally causing a
  person's death by performing an
• action such as by giving a lethal injection.
• Euthanasia By Omission Intentionally causing
  death by not providing necessary
• and ordinary (usual and customary) care or food
  and water.

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Examples of Euthanasia

• Infanticide
• Abortion
• Premature babies
• Concentration Camps
• Severely handicapped
• People who are brain dead

• Capital punishment
• People who are
• terminally ill
• Severely mentally
• retarded
• Elderly
• Homeless
• Drug Addicts

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Infanticide

• In the 1970s, China was facing a
• population explosion so the
• government ordered a one child
• per family law.
• The government enforced this law with
• forced abortions and compulsory
• sterilizations.
• In rural China where boys are valued
• as extra hands who will support their
• parents in their old age, and who will carry on
  the family name, girls are
• viewed as less desirable. If a baby if unwanted,
  she is abandoned,
• suffocated or drowned soon after birth.
• This preference for male children has led to
  approximately 10,000 girl
• infants being killed in China each year.
• Now China has a major gender-ratio problem.
  China refers to this as
• the missing girl phenomenon.

China's orphanages are full of girls who
have been abandoned
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Abortion

• An abortion is the removal or expulsion of an
  embryo or fetus from the uterus, resulting in or
  caused by its death.
• The spontaneous expulsion of a fetus or embryo
  before the 20th week is commonly known as a
  miscarriage.1
• Induced abortion is the removal or expulsion of
  an embryo or fetus by medical, surgical, or other
  means at any point during human pregnancy for
  therapeutic or elective reasons.2
• The approximate number of induced abortions
  performed worldwide in 2003 was 42 million.3

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Abortion

• In spite of effective and widely available birth
  control methods, more than half of the 6 million
  pregnancies occurring each year in the United
  States are considered unplanned by the women who
  are pregnant. Of these unplanned pregnancies,
  about half end in abortion.
• Abortions performed prior to 9 weeks are
  performed either surgically (a procedure) or
  medically (with drugs). From 9 weeks until 14
  weeks, an abortion is performed by a dilatation
  and suction curettage procedure.
• After 14 weeks, surgical abortions are performed
  by a dilatation and evacuation procedure.
• After 20 weeks of gestation, abortions can be
  performed by labor induction, prostaglandin labor
  induction, saline infusion, dilatation and
  extraction, or partial birth abortion.

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People who are Mentally DisabledAre sometimes
Euthanized
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People who are Physically DisabledAre sometimes
Euthanized
Quadriplegic
Amputee
Cystic Fibrosis
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People who have a Physical DeformityAre
sometimes Euthanized
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Conjoined TwinsAre sometimes Euthanized
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People who are HomelessAre sometimes the victims
of Euthanasia
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People in 3rd World CountriesAre sometimes
Euthanized
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Assisted Suicide
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People who are Terminally SickSometimes ask for
Assisted Suicide

• Dr. Kevorkians invention
• the death machine.

http//eslacs.tripod.com/english/danai-euthanasia.
html
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People who are Brain DeadSometimes receive
non-voluntary Assisted Suicide

• Terri Schiavo
• Her feeding tube was removed in 1993,
• after 13 years in a vegetative state.

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The Elderly sometimes ask forAssisted Suicide
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People who are Drug AddictsSometimes ask for
Assisted Suicide
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Stem Cell ResearchSacrifices one life in order
to possibly save others
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In Infertility Treatment, Some Embryos are
Sacrificed while others are Saved
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Quality of a Life Worth LivingProm Night
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The Problem with Euthanasia and Assisted
SuicideWho Determines Whose Life is Worth
Living? In Nazi Germany, Hitler decided that
only the Arian race was worthy of living
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Nazi Germany
A concentration camp for men.
Separating the men from the women.
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Nazi GermanyPeople were euthanized in the gas
chamber and then their bodies were burned in the
furnaces

• Gas Chamber

Furnaces
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Nazi Germany Euthanasia Death Camps

• Bodies waiting for cremation

Mass grave
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In Summary, There are Two forms of Selective
Reduction

• Euthanasia
• Assisted Suicide