Life and Death Decisions Midterm 2

Debates About Assisted Suicide (The Negative)

- Can open the door to widespread abuse analogous to what happened in Nazi Germany. - Who would qualify for this assistance? Just the old? The terminally ill? What about the mentally ill with terminal diseases? - If the patient is not cognitively capable of the decision or is in a comatose state, who gets to decide then? - The religious view that suicide is not an option and god has a plan and pain may very well be apart of the plan. - How will this affect physicians and their profession? They are to be seen as caregivers who can kill you? Goes against the prerogative of a medical professional.

Grief Processes General Findings

- Comes in stages - Grief take as long as it takes, with no wrong or right way to grieve - Shortest route to other side of grief is through honest engagement. - Write and spend time with people who care - Engage with life anew

Debates About Assisted Suicide (The Affirmative)

- Patients should be able to die with dignity and peacefully. - The state cannot say what life is with continuing living and it not worth continuing living. - Terminally ill are in considerable pain with only pain to continue until their unavoidable death, why can't they just end it now with out the pain of the future? - Patients should be able to determine their own future, just as they do when deciding wether to have a specific surgery/ procedure or to not have it.

Rape Cases between 1860-1972

-802 people executed for rape -87-90% were of African American heritage -69 people executed for attempted rape -96% were of African American heritage

Trends in Lynching (see slide 18 in 'Inflicting Suffering and Death-1' powerpoint)

1865-69: KKK was founded, ran rampant. 1870-89: Klan act passed allowing severe penalty and martial law against KKK, went down severely. 1890-99: Jim Crow Laws passed, sever spike compared to prior decade. 1900-60: Migration of many African Americans to the North, a linear decay across the 6 decades.

Trends in Executions (see slide 19 in 'Inflicting Suffering and Death-1' powerpoint)

1930-40: Spike in execution numbers. 1940-70: Severe linear decay in number of executions. 1970-80: Moratorium given by Supreme Court after Furman v. Georgia with almost no executions. 1980-2000: A raise in number of executions to about half of inmates executed in 30's and 40's. 2000-08: A gradual decrease with still around 40 executions still occurring.

The Deterrence Statistics in Powerpoint (see slide 39 on 'Inflicting Suffering and Death-1' powerpoint)

1990-1995: A gradual, somewhat linear, increase from 4% to 27%. 1996-1999: A sharp increase from '95 from 27% to 44% and holds around low 40's until '99. 1999: A notable decrease of 13% from the prior year, unsure as to why. 2000-2002: Increases back up to mid 30's and holds. 2002-2006: Increases to middle 40's and holds.

Is Deterrence a Viable Argument for pro CP?

2014 FBI Uniform Crime Report showed that the South, which accounts for 80% of executions in US, had highest murder rate at 5.5 per 100k people. Northeast, which accounted for 1% of executions in US, had lowest murder rate with 3.3 per 100k people. Very difficult to use deterrence as argument for CP since data shows little to no support of the platform.

Rwandan conflict between Hutus and Tutsi

500,000- 2 million Rwandans killed. Ethnic conflict between Hutu majority and Tutsi minority. Hutus were oppressed by Tutsis throughout history. Feared Tutsis would try to again oppress them.

Terri Schiavo

A 41 year old women and who had spent nearly half her life in a vegetative state after suffering a cardiac arrest in 1990, causing a severe lack of oxygen and brain damage. Following highly politicized events involving the state legislature and courts, as well as the US Congress, Terri Schavio's feeding tube was removed, and she died amid protests and the now frequent assertions that we were moving rapidly toward a culture of death.

Furman v. Georgia (1972)

A United States Supreme Court decision that ruled on the requirement for a degree of consistency in the application of the death penalty. The case led to a de facto moratorium on capital punishment throughout the United States. This is the dip in executions on the graph shown in class around the 70's. In a 5-4 decision, the Court's one-paragraph per curiam opinion held that the imposition of the death penalty in these cases constituted cruel and unusual punishment and violated the Constitution.

Craig Ewert

A University Professor who suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease. He lived in England and traveled to Switzerland to die. With help from Dignitas NGO he rented an apartment and the procedure was done. This is the guy from the documentary we saw in class, "The Suicide Tourist".

Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992)

A case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in which the constitutionality of several Pennsylvania state statutory provisions regarding abortion were challenged. Notably, the case was a turn from the Roe v. Wade decision to tie an abortion's legality to the third trimester, associating the legal timeframe with fetal viability. In theory, its aim was to make the woman's decision more thoughtful and informed. The Court's plurality opinion upheld the constitutional right to have an abortion while altering the standard for analyzing restrictions on that right. Applying its new standard of review, the Court upheld four regulations and invalidated the requirement of spousal notification.

New York State Case (1997)

A court case involving Timothy Quill and several other physicians who sought to appease their patients by granting them their own death. It was illegal in NY at the time. Drawing parallels to the removal of life support systems, recently approved by the Supreme Court in the Cruzan case, they asked for equitable treatment. The patients and their doctors wanted New York's law declared unconstitutional on the basis of equity. Court found moral and legal equivalence between disconnecting life support and prescribing life-ending drugs. Physicians did not fulfill the role of "killer" by prescribing drugs to hasten death any more than they did by disconnecting life-support systems.

Victor Frankl

A psychotherapist who was in concentration camps during WWII. Frankl believed that people are primarily driven by a "striving to find meaning in one's life," and that it is this sense of meaning that enables people to overcome painful experiences. He believed that suffering was a part of life and that the meaning of suffering was very personal. Conclusion that we adjust to painful situations in stages.

Joseph Saikewiez

A severely retarded 67 year old man who's not vegetative, but could not communicate verbally. He was then diagnosed with leukemia, no treatment would lead to him dying in weeks/ months with little pain and chemo would extend his life for possibly longer than a year, but cause lots of discomfort. He has been living in state institutions all his life and his family chose not to get involved. A guardian was appointed and he chose to forego treatment, this decision was taken to court and the judge issued a decision siding with the guardian months after Joseph had already died. The reasoning was that because he could not understand the treatment and future hope like other patients so he would only feel pain, confusion, and fear.

Justice Harry Blackmun

A very Liberal Supreme Court Justice from 1970-94. Despite his stated personal "abhorrence" for the death penalty in Furman v. Georgia, he voted to uphold mandatory death penalty statutes at issue in 1976's Roberts v. Louisiana and Woodson v. North Carolina, even though these laws would have automatically imposed the death penalty on anyone found guilty of first-degree murder. But on February 22, 1994, less than two months before announcing his retirement, Blackmun announced that he now saw the death penalty as always and in all circumstances unconstitutional by issuing a dissent from the Court's refusal to hear a routine death penalty case (Callins v. Collins), declaring that "from this day forward, I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death."

Leonel Herrera

Accused of shooting two officers in 1981. There was strong evidence that he was guilty, but submitted a petition that stated his brother was the one who killed the two men. Herrera filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in federal court, claiming that new evidence demonstrated he was actually innocent of the murder of one of the men. Leonel Herrera claimed that the new evidence showed that he was actually innocent, and that executing an innocent person would constitute cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment. Led to Supreme Court case.

My Lai Massacre (1968)

American GI's killed, and some reported cases of rape and scalping, some 500 South Vietnamese women and children in 1968. Were ordered on the ground to go in and kill everyone, supposedly a town with large amount of Viet Cong and northern sympathizers. Highlights what happens when you dehumanize the enemy. Also brought to light issue of conflicting moral principles to what a soldier is ordered to do. Soldiers face court martial if they disobey orders, but what about the moral reprehensible actions of My Lai?

NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)

An African American civil rights group formed in 1909. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination". The group enlarged its mission in the late 20th century by considering such as police misconduct, the status of black foreign refugees, and questions of economic development. Its predecessor the Niagara Movement fought the disenfranchisement of blacks in the south.

Emmett Till

An African-American teenager who was lynched in Mississippi at the age of 14 after reportedly flirting with a white woman. Till's body was returned to Chicago. His mother, who had mostly raised him, insisted on a public funeral service with an open casket to show the world the brutality of the killing. "The open-coffin funeral held by Mamie Till Bradley exposed the world to more than her son Emmett Till's bloated, mutilated body. Her decision focused attention not only on American racism and the barbarism of lynching but also on the limitations and vulnerabilities of American democracy". The men who murdered Till, and admitted to doing so in an interview, were acquitted in 1955.

Daniel Callahan

An American Bioethicist. Authored and edited over 41 publications including Setting Limits: Medical Goals in an Aging Society (1987). He did not intend to kill the elderly; they were going to die anyway; he simply wanted to restrict access to medical care near the end of life, so resources could be directed elsewhere. Not an advocate for "rational" suicide though, just thought life should be protected but was finite.

Harriet McBryde Johnson

An American author, attorney, and disability rights activist. She was disabled and used a motorized wheelchair. In 2002 Harriet Johnson debated Peter Singer, challenging his belief that parents ought to be able to euthanize their disabled children. Professor Singer had drawn protests by insisting that suffering should be relieved without regard to species. That, he said, allows parents and doctors to kill newborns with drastic disabilities, like the absence of higher brain function or an incompletely formed spine, instead of letting "nature take its course." Ms. Johnson had been sent to the lecture by Not Dead Yet, a national disability-rights organization. Describing the event in The Times, she wrote: "To Singer, it's pretty simple: disability makes a person 'worse off.' Are we 'worse off'? I don't think so."

Jack Kevorkian (Dr. Death)

An American pathologist and euthanasia activist. He is best known for publicly championing a terminal patient's right to die via physician-assisted suicide; he claimed to have assisted at least 130 patients to that end. He was often portrayed in the media as "Dr. Death"; however, many consider him a hero as he helped set the platform for reform. He famously said, "Dying is not a crime." Was tried and sentenced to jail in 1999, released on parole in 2007

Timothy Quill

An American physician who was a member of the Death with Dignity National Center in Oregon. Plaintiff in Vacco v. Quill Supreme Court Case. Dr. Quill advocated for legal reform regarding assisted suicide and he developed seven criteria to provide a thoughtful approach to physician assisted suicide.

Brittany Maynard

An American woman with terminal brain cancer who decided that she would end her own life "when the time seemed right." She was an advocate for the legalization of aid in dying. Arthur Caplan, of New York University's Division of Medical ethics, wrote that because Maynard was "young, vivacious, attractive ... and a very different kind of person" from the average patient seeking physician-assisted dying—then averaging age 71 in Oregon—she "changed the optics of the debate" and got people in her generation interested in the issue.

Peter Singer

An Australian Moral Philosopher. Singer holds that the right to life is essentially tied to a being's capacity to hold preferences, which in turn is essentially tied to a being's capacity to feel pain and pleasure. Singer argues that newborns lack the essential characteristics of personhood -"rationality, autonomy, and self-consciousness"- and therefore "killing a newborn baby is never equivalent to killing a person, that is, a being who wants to go on living." Singer classifies euthanasia as voluntary, involuntary, or non-voluntary. Voluntary euthanasia is that to which the subject consents. He argues in favour of voluntary euthanasia and some forms of non-voluntary euthanasia, including infanticide in certain instances, but opposes involuntary euthanasia.

Human Genome Project

An international scientific research project with the goal of determining the sequence of chemical base pairs which make up human DNA, and of identifying and mapping all of the genes of the human genome from both a physical and functional standpoint.

Racial Differences in Death Row Inmates

As of Jan. 1st 2016: 44% are white 43% are black 10% are hispanic 3% are other

Elizabeth Bouvia

At the age of 26, Elizabeth admitted herself into a hospital California. She was almost totally paralysed by cerebral palsy and had severe degenerative arthritis, which caused her great pain. She requested hospital authorities to allow her to starve to death. When they refused and ordered her to be force-fed, Bouvia contacted the American Civil Liberties Union, which assigned her a lawyer. In the subsequent lawsuit, the court concluded that she had the right to choose to die and that the hospital was bound to provide relief from any pain that might result from her choice. Once granted her right to decide, she decided not to starve herself to death.

Historical Connection between Slavery and Criminal Justice System

Based in the back codes and the Jim Crow laws, the mass mistreatment of blacks and the mass favoring of whites among criminal proceeding during the early 20th century. Prisons in the late 1800's and early 1900's were labor camps and plantations. A way to maintain slavery legally by incarcerating blacks and forcing them to work. Leasing convicts to work was prevalent after civil war. After disuse of convict leasing, chain gains became the primary form of labor. At gunpoint forced, mostly blacks, to work public road developments. Abolished in 1950s. Only prevalent in the south obviously.

Planned Parenthood v. Casey as a Crystalizing Event (1990's)

Became foundation for assisted suicide. The case established when a fetus becomes a "person", after the third trimester, thus protected under constitution. If fetus maintains autonomy then how come an elderly person with terminal illness can't have autonomy? "At the heart of liberty [is the] right to define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life." Such matters, the Court said, should not be "formed under the compulsion of the State." Opened the door to the Right to Die movement.

California Natural Death Act

California was the first state to enact a "natural death law." The laws are also known as Death with Dignity Acts or Living Will Acts. It passed in 1976. Legal principles in these laws acknowledged the rights of the terminally ill to refuse medical treatments and interventions. Exclusions and special provisions applied to pregnant women, nursing home patients and the law only applied in cases where there was no cure and to those who were (or had been once) competent to make decisions.

NAACP and Legal Defense Fund (LDF)

Civil rights legal defense funds are non-profit organizations that use legal services to advance civil rights. They often provide legal assistance, advocacy, litigation support, and public education to increase gender and racial equality. Common issues include equality in the workplace, equality in education, immigration rights, voting rights, and violence prevention.

W.E.B. Du Bois

Co-founder of the NAACP and Leader of the Niagara Movement that protested the treatment of blacks, specifically in their civil rights, in the south. He strongly protested against lynching. He wrote "Returning Soldiers."

Justice Douglass

Concurred with the majority in Furman v. Georgia. He felt that capital punishment is unconstitutional.

Science and Technology in Capital Punishment

DNA and biological material testing became prevalent in 1985. Forensic testing can determine if distinctive patterns in the genetic material found at a crime scene matches the DNA in a potential perpetrator with better than 99% accuracy. In 1987 a Florida rapist was first person convicted in US with use of DNA evidence. As accuracy rises and costs drop, DNA analysis is becoming increasingly widespread.

The Four Crystallizing Events (according to my TA)

Dax Cowart Elizabeth Bouvia Jack Kevorkian (Dr. Death) Planned Parenthood v. Casey

Dax Cowart as a Crystallizing Event (1970's)

Dax's situation brought to light the issue of physician commitment to fulfill their duties as a caregiver, usually seen as keeping the patient alive, against the wishes of the patient themselves. First case that set forth the idea that, provided the patient is cognitively sound, can decide their own fate as far as medical treatment is applied to them. Right to die moment gained traction amongst public.

Phillips County Massacre (1919)

Deadliest racial conflict in American history. 5 white and an estimated 200 blacks lost their lives in a riot in Phillips County Arkansas. African American farmers sought to change the way they were treated, which was corrupt and similar to the black codes of the late 19th century. Blacks claimed exploitation of them by the whites, which was true. "Racial terror lynching was a tool used to enforce Jim Crow laws and racial segregation—a tactic for maintaining racial control by victimizing the entire African American community, not merely punishment of an alleged perpetrator for a crime."

Assisted Dying and the Right to Die Movement in the US

Debated throughout the 1920's and 1930's and took a minor hold of public eye (Mother May, Sigmund Freud and King George V). Set back when Nazi Germany took the idea to the tenth degree and started a genocide. In the decades immediately after WWII the movement had little concern to the public since it alluded to the Nazi euthanasia laws. Hospice Movement started in 1950's. Gained traction in the 80's with cases like Bouvia and Cowart. Hemlock society founded, first right to die organization in US. Reopened dialogue on the subject and the 1990's brought Dr. Death and the first legislation in Oregon allowing the terminally ill to take their own life. Has since been one of the most contentious subjects in American society and politics.

Euthanasia

Derived from Greek, meaning "good death". In current usage, euthanasia has been defined as the "painless inducement of a quick death". However, it is argued that this approach fails to properly define euthanasia, as it leaves open a number of possible actions which would meet the requirements of the definition, but would not be seen as euthanasia.

Surgeon General Koop

Doctor who was also involved in the Baby Doe debates, he was now fearful of the terms used to justify assisted suicide, which he opposed. He argued that it was impossible for anyone to judge someone else's "quality of life" so we should concentrate in the sanctity of all human life.

William L. Maxwell Case (Arkansas)

Early 20's. Sentenced to death. Judge was not sympathetic. Race played a part in it. Judges argument was "statistics are elusive things at best." "It is a truism that almost anything can be proven by them."

Washington State Case (1994)

Existing law: a person is guilty of assisting suicide "when he knowingly causes or aids another person to attempt suicide." 5 years in prison and 10k fine. First time any court in the US heard an assisted suicide case. Several competent terminally ill patients wished to end their lives peacefully. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, in an 8-3 decision, sided with individual autonomy and the alleviation of suffering over the State's interest in intervening to protect the sanctity of life. There was indeed a "constitutionally- protected liberty interest in determining the time and manner of one's own death, an interest that must be weighed against the state's legitimate and countervailing interests, especially those that relate to the preservation of human life."

IQ Tests and Capital Punishment

Florida IQ set to 70 In Court Case Hall v Florida, Florida's threshold at 70 was unconstitutional because it created a risk where that persons with intellectual disabilities will be executed. (IQ tests have a margin of error)

Sigmund Freud

Freud had cancer but did not wish to die from it, so his friend that was a doctor (Dr. Max Schur) gave him a heroin injection to kill him one of the first assisted dying cases

Racial Statistics for Lynchings in US

From 1882-1968, 4,743 lynchings occurred in the United States. Of these people that were lynched 3,446 were black. The blacks lynched accounted for 72.7% of the people lynched. These numbers seem large, but it is known that not all of the lynchings were ever recorded. Out of the 4,743 people lynched only 1,297 white people were lynched. That is only 27.3%. Many of the whites lynched were lynched for helping the black or being anti lynching and even for domestic crimes.

Governor Richard Lamm (Colorado)

Gave a speech on "American Suicide" in 2004 He was concerned about the escalating costs of healthcare associated with life-prolonging technology. He said people "have a duty to die and get out of the way"

Chief Justice William Rehnquist

He said that there is a constitutional right for competent people to refuse medical treatment. Wrote the main opinion in Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health, which was the first time the supreme court ruled that people had a right to refuse medical treatment. Also argued that there is no constitutional right to assisted suicide and that states should have the right to allow it or not.

Dax Cowart

He was severely burned, two thirds of his body, by an explosion. After repeated pleas for the medical personnel to let him die they kept him alive with painful and degrading medical procedures. After Dax recovered, he became a lawyer and an activist for right to die movements.

Elizabeth Bouvia as a Crystallizing Event (1980's)

Highlights a situation is which the patient could be under severe and considerable amounts of pain from their conditions and diseases. Her illness wasn't terminal nor was she in a vegetative state. Filed a suit and the court decided that a patient can die voluntarily. Raised questions of who qualifies for the ability to die voluntarily. Can doctors use a form of lethal injection without legal repercussions?

Change in Time between Conviction and Execution

In 1930's the time from conviction to execution was around 6 weeks. Today is more around 9 years. Changed after Furman v. Georgia.

Justice Arthur Goldberg

In 1963 the NAACP and Legal defense fund was pushed to move against the death penalty by the words of Supreme Court Justice \believed death was worse than rape, so would be punishing people with something worse than they did. That thought pushed a movement against the death penalty.

Ruffin v. Commonwealth (1871)

In this case, the Virginia Supreme Court stated that the inmate was a "slave of the state," with only those rights given to him by the state. Later, in 1974, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Wolff v. McDonnell that prisoners have not lost all of their constitutional rights. Even though inmates were originally seen as slaves of the state, there were some early court decisions that condemned inhumane treatment, but there were no effective procedures to secure prisoners' rights. During the "activist era," also known as the Warren Court era (1953-1969), the Supreme Court gave a number of opinions that expanded the civil rights of several groups, including prisoners.

Vacco v. Quill (1997)

Is a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States regarding the right to die. It ruled 9-0 that a New York ban on physician-assisted suicide was constitutional, and preventing doctors from assisting their patients, even those terminally ill and/or in great pain, was a legitimate state interest that was well within the authority of the state to regulate. In brief, this decision established that, as a matter of law, there was no constitutional guarantee of a "right to die."

Thomas Legislation

JW Thomas was a local in small town Texas during the early 1920's when nine black men were brutally beat and lynched. He ran to be a state senator to stop lynchings and restructure capital punishment. Electrocution was to replace hangings as it was seen as a more humane way to execute someone. Texas joined a growing number of states that utilized electrocution over hanging.

Janet Adkins

Janet Adkins had Alzheimer's and decided to end her own life. She traveled from Oregon to Michigan to have her death was assisted by Jack Kevorkian (Dr. Death). Adkins death instigated a public policy change that lead to the creation of the Oregon Death with Dignity Act.

Lethal Injection

Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium solution) for the express purpose of causing immediate death. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but the term may also be applied in a broad sense to euthanasia and suicide. It kills the person by first putting them to sleep, and then stopping the breathing and heart, in that order.

Nancy Cruzan

Nancy Cruzan was in a car accident and after three weeks in a coma, she was diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state (PVS). Cruzan was the first "right to die" case the Supreme Court had ever heard, and it proved divisive for the Court. Upholding the Missouri Supreme Court's ruling, the United States Supreme Court ruled that nothing in the Constitution prevents the state of Missouri from requiring "clear and convincing evidence" before terminating life-supporting treatment. The Court did rule that competent individuals have the right to refuse medical treatment under the Due Process Clause. However, with incompetent individuals, the Court upheld the state of Missouri's higher standard for evidence of what the person would want if they were able to make their own decisions.

"Scottboro Boys"

Nine black teenagers accused in Alabama of raping two White American women on a train in 1931. The landmark set of legal cases from this incident dealt with racism and the right to a fair trial. The cases included a lynch mob before the suspects had been indicted, a frameup, all-white juries, rushed trials, and disruptive mobs. It is frequently cited as an example of an overall miscarriage of justice in the United States legal system.

Justice Clarence Thomas

Opposed the Supreme Court ruling that the death penalty could not be imposed on offenders under 18 who had committed a crime. He and Justice Scalia found little reason to grant mercy.

Rwandan Genocide (1994)

Rwanda had population of seven million with 85% Hutus and 14% Tutsi. Hutu extremists dehumanized and blamed the Tutsi minority for growing problems in Rwanda. Violence started on April 6th after Hutu a President was killed. Some 800,000 people in the following weeks were slaughtered. Policymakers in France, Belgium, and the United States and at the United Nations were aware of the preparations for massive slaughter and failed to take the steps needed to prevent it. Highlighted the inefficiency of the outside worlds ability to intervene in the face of genocide.

Cicely Saunders

She founded the Hospice Movement and emphasized the importance of palliative care in modern medicine. "We have to concern ourselves with the quality of life as well as its length."

Elisabeth Kubler Ross

She was a psychiatrist, pioneer in near-death studies and the author of On Death and Dying, where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance).

Jessie Daniel Ames

She was one of the first Southern white women to speak out and work publicly against lynching of blacks, which were often done by white men as a misguided act of chivalry to protect their "virtue". Ames founded the Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching. Despite hostile community opposition and physical threats, they mobilized church communities and local action groups by giving speeches and distributing pamphlets

Racial Differences in Executions Across US

Since 1976: 55% were white 35% were black 8% were hispanic 1% were other

Powell v. Alabama (1932)

Supreme Court Decision that reversed the conviction of the "Scottsboro Boys". The majority of the Court reasoned that the right to retain and be represented by a lawyer was fundamental to a fair trial and that at least in some circumstances, the trial judge must inform a defendant of this right. In addition, if the defendant cannot afford a lawyer, the court must appoint one sufficiently far in advance of trial to permit the lawyer to prepare adequately for the trial. Powell was the first time the Court had reversed a state criminal conviction for a violation of a criminal procedural provision of the United States Bill of Rights.

Torture

The act of deliberately inflicting physical or psychological pain on an organism in order to fulfil some desire of the torturer or compel some action from the victim. Torture, by definition, is a knowing and intentional act; deeds which unknowingly or negligently inflict pain without a specific intent to do so are not typically considered torture.

Doctrine (Principle) of Double Effect

The doctrine of double effect is often invoked to explain the permissibility of an action that causes a serious harm, such as the death of a human being, as a side effect of promoting some good end. According to the principle of double effect, sometimes it is permissible to cause a harm as a side effect (or "double effect") of bringing about a good result even though it would not be permissible to cause such a harm as a means to bringing about the same good end.

Us vs. Them

The idea during war, usually, that dehumanizes the opposition making it a strict mentality of us vs. them. Allows for My Lai massacre and WWII genocide.

Genocide

The intentional action to systematically eliminate a cultural, ethnic, linguistic, national, racial or religious group. The word is a combination of "genos" (race, people) and "cide" (to kill). The United Nations Genocide Convention defines it as "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group".

Lord Dawson

The royal physician who killed King George V. Supporter of assisted suicide.

Suicide Rates in US Military

US Military's suicide rate surpassed combat death rate for first time in 2012. Suicide rate has tripled among active duty Army personnel since 2001, around 50, to 2009, around 150. Suicide rate of active duty Military personnel from 2001 to 2009 has doubled from around 150 to 300 incidents per year. 2009 suicide rate was highest incident rate recorded by Government since it started tracking this statistic in 1980.

Grief Processes (The Two Major Processes)

Victor Frankl model in stages: Delusion and Shock, wipe out previous life, adjustment-- apathy, and tragic optimism. Elisabeth Kubler Ross model in stages: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance.

"Please Let Me Die" Video

Video on Dax Cowart (see Dax Cowart flashcard) that documented the treatment and feeling of Dax during his recovery period after his accident. Brought to light the conflicting views of the medical profession to keep patients alive and patient autonomy.

Moore et al. v. Dempsey (1923)

Was a United States Supreme Court case in 1923 in which the Court ruled 6-2 that the defendants' mob-dominated trials deprived them of due process guaranteed by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. It reversed the district court's decision declining the petitioners' writ of habeas corpus. Was the first case to come before the court in the 20th century related to the treatment of African Americans in the criminal justice systems of the South, where they lived in a segregated society that had disenfranchised them. The trials were dominated by white mobs; crowds of armed whites milled around the courthouse. As Justice Holmes later stated in his opinion, "There was never a chance of an acquittal," as the jurors feared the mob.

Washington v. Glucksberg (1997)

Was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously held that a right to assistance in committing suicide was not protected by the Due Process Clause. Dr. Harold Glucksberg, a physician, challenged Washington state's ban against assisted suicide in the Natural Death Act of 1979. The Court held that because assisted suicide is not a fundamental liberty interest, it was not protected under the 14th Amendment.

Jack Kevorkian (Dr. Death) as a Crystallizing Event (1990's)

Was tried four times and convicted for 8 years in prison for 2nd degree murder. Was it wrong what he was doing though? He ended the lives of around 130 people but alleviated a great deal of suffering. What is more valued, sanctity of life with large amounts of pain or the rights of the patient to request a lethal dose of medicine on their own accord?

Karen Ann Quinlan

When she was 21, Quinlan lapsed into a coma, followed by a persistent vegetative state. After doctors refused the request of her parents, Joseph and Julia Quinlan, to disconnect Quinlan's respirator, which they believed constituted extraordinary means of prolonging her life, her parents filed suit to disconnect Quinlan from her ventilator. A Superior Court judge denied the parents' request, but the decision was reversed in an appeal to the New Jersey Supreme Court. She lived for 9 years after the "plug was pulled". This was the first right to die case. Her parents made her case very public and gained support for the right to die movement.

Dehumanization of Self and Other

When we dehumanize another person/group it opens the door for treatment that would otherwise be seen as morally unjust. In My Lai we saw the "other" as the enemy, us vs. them. Made the slaughter of women an children possible for the American GI's. In Rwanda they viewed Tutis's as the enemy which lead to the genocide of an entire set of people. Hutus referred to Tutis's as cockroaches. This dehumanization is analogous to the view of Jews as rats in WWII by Nazi Germany.

13th Amendment

abolished slavery lynching? prison and forced labor?

Justice Antonin Scalia

capital punishment Scalia argued that there is no constitutional right to abortion, and that if the people desire legalized abortion, a law should be passed to accomplish it. Scalia believed that the death penalty is constitutional, even at ages 16-17.

Governor Ryan (Illinois)

governor of Illinois opposed to the death penalty; he commuted all the sentences for all the death row inmates in Illinois; pages 397-400; he declared a moratorium on executions in his state; convinced that the system of capital punishment was flawed beyond repair

"The Suicide Tourist" Video

http://video.pbs.org/video/1430431984/ Video on Craig Ewert who traveled to Switzerland to be able to pass away with the help of Dignitas. Documented his final days how the right for death affects family, the person with the wish to die and the organization affording him the opportunity.

"Ghosts of Rwanda" Video

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ghosts/video/ A video on the Rwandan genocide between the Hutus and Tutis's. Highlights the inefficiency of the UN to take action and assist in what was clearly a genocidal conflict in which almost a million people were slaughtered.

"Remember My Lai" Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLc1zaZVCDM A video on the slaughter of over 400 vietnamese innocent women and children at a village called My Lai in the Vietnam War by American GI's. Highlights the brutality of war and the conflict between soldiers who need to follow orders to function and morally condemning actions given to them by their superiors.