Euthanasia—Right to live or die (5/28, Sat.)

[Margaret]

Dear all,

I guess you all remember that the story of Terry Schiavo claimed and demanded every headline in every newspaper about 2 months ago. Terry Schiavo collapsed in 1990, and was in a "persistent vegetative state" (PVS) - with severe brain damage but not in a coma - for some 15 years. Her husband pleaded to remove her feeding tube, but her parents tried to stop him. Terry’ s feeding tub eventually was removed on March 18. She died 13 days after the tube removed.
Here are some links that you can find the whole story, and the legal disputes:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/03/18/schia ... n-damaged/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4398131.stm
In addition, here is a simple classification of euthanasia:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4398131.stm
Session I
Q1: After reading Terry’s story, do you support her husband or her parents? Why?
Q2: If Terry were not in PVS, just paralyzed, and asked doctors to turn off machines for keeping her alive, would you support her?
Q3: If Terry were in a coma, would you change your answer of Question 1?

Take a Break ^____^

Session II

In this session, every group will act as lawmakers, and decide whether euthanasia law shall be enacted in Taiwan. If your group decides such a law should not be enacted, please state your reasons. If your group decides it should be enacted, please tell us under what conditions euthanasia shall be allowed.
Here is some information for your reference:
http://www.euthanasia.com/
http://e.sinchew-i.com/content.phtml?se ... 0503240004
http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/euro ... debate.03/

There are 2 movies related to this topic:
The Sea Inside and Million Dollar Baby. Both films won the Oscar this year. It is also an interesting coincident that when they were released in the States and Taiwan, Terry Schiavo Case was going on too.

See you on 5/28.
Cheers,

Margaret



給新朋友的話：

聚會時間:星期六 請準時2:00 pm 到 ~ 約4:00 pm 左右結束
聚會地點：加州陽光2F 台北市大安路一段84巷4號 02-27512955
捷運忠孝復興站（木柵線板南線樞紐，十分方便）
忠孝東路 SOGO 附近之永福樓對面Bistro 98大樓-->大安路-->大眾銀行-->第一條巷子右轉
最低消費約＄80。

1. 請事先準備2~3分鐘的英語自我介紹；討論完畢後可能會請你發表1~2分鐘的感想(feedback)。
2. 請事先閱討論主題相關內容以及host所提的問題，並事先寫下自己所欲發表意見的英文。
3. 來之前請先讀一下在討論主題，思考一下如何回答及討論。
4. 在正式加入之前（繳交可退還之押金NT$1,000)，可以先來觀摩三次。

[Wayne]

I thought about this topic months ago when a fellow Yoyo member asked me for a subject for discussion. So now I'd like to offer a few other links regarding Terry Schiavo:

http://civilliberty.about.com/cs/humane ... gTerry.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terri_Schiavo

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/ ... 4221.shtml

http://slate.msn.com/id/2115064/

http://www.catholicexchange.com/vm/inde ... t_id=25425

http://www.terrisfight.org/

http://www.terryschiavo.it/

Meanwhile, you might have heard of the story of DR. Jack Kevorkian, a.k.a. Doctor Death. Dr. Kevorkian helped terminally ill patients to end their lives with the "killing machine" by him because all patients' family begged him to do so. His mercy killings aroused controversy nationwide and he was convicted. People wondered whether he did the right thing or the evil thing. This is a nother issue that we can discuss at this meeting.

Back in 1963 in Taiwan, a highschool student named 王曉民 was struck by a car and became a vegetable since. At the time, 王曉民's parents tried every which to keep her alive, hoping some day she would wake up from her coma. Years have gone by, she is still lying there while both of her parents have already passed away. In 王曉民's mother dying breath, she pleaded to let 王曉民 "go". However, the laws wouldn't allow 王曉民 to leave this world by removing her life sustaining equipment. We wonder whether the laws for euthanasia, or mercy killing, should be made.

Dear fellow Yoyos, what are your insights? Come together and discuss

[Margaret]

Dear Wayne, Thanks for sharing additional info.

[technobabel]

an example of living will (a parody)
http://www.capsteps.com/sounds/livingwill.ram
mp3 version:
http://www.capsteps.com/sounds/livingwill.mp3

[Margaret]

In addition, here is a simple classification of euthanasia:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4398131.stm

Dear all,

I just found that this link is a incorrect one. Here is the correct link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/ethics/eu ... _out.shtml

See you.

Margaret

[technobabel]

What we can learn from attempting to revive a PVS patient may be useful in the research of human hibernation, which is needed in long distance space travel, like to the Mars planet.