To do this I must be able to notice and name the types of evidence and use strategies to help me find claim and evaluate the effectiveness of the author's argument.
I will demonstrate this by annotating for types of evidence and answering all the questions about the article (article below).
Directions: Read/annotate for five types of evidence and follow instructions on the article.
Assisted suicide: Jack
Kevorkian was just a sideshow
Op-Ed
The death-with-dignity
movement is about compassion, freedom and common sense.
In 1982, when I helped
my mother die, Jack Kevorkian wasn't yet on the scene. Within a few years he
was, noisily assisting terminally ill people who wanted to die.
My mother was dying of
ovarian cancer, but in her view, not fast enough. She was 76, and one afternoon
she put it to me: "I'm not afraid to die, but I am afraid of what this
illness is doing to me. There's nothing but nausea and pain. There's no point
in a slow death. I've got to end this."
I loved my mother and
didn't want her to die, but because I loved her, I helped her. That is, my
husband and I did research. We vaguely knew that helping someone die was
illegal, but we didn't want to think about it. So, after every doctor friend
refused to give us guidance — and warned us to stop doing what we were about to
do — and after rejecting ideas like a gun (we're middle-class New Yorkers;
where on Earth would we get a gun?), a sympathetic friend gave us the name of a
doctor in Europe. With his help by telephone, we managed to find a way to help
her get out of a life she no longer wanted.
What does the author want to do?
What is his problem?________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
Besides worrying about
whether we were going to get it right, we worried about being found out. The
real potential danger for my husband and me, however, came after I wrote a book
about what happened; otherwise, no one would have been the wiser. But a lawyer
I consulted told me that, technically, my mother took her own life without any
active help from us—like handing her the pills. In addition, all the evidence
against me I brought against myself (in the book) which, apparently, doesn't
count. Besides, New York's district attorney seemed to be pretty busy with real
criminals and left us alone. And that was the end of it.
When Kevorkian became
well known, first helping people die with his "suicide machine" and
later, when the courts took that away from him, with a tank full of carbon
monoxide, people asked me if I would have wanted his help with my mother. I
said no. He was too creepy; he seemed to enjoy himself too much. When he helped
people to die, he seemed more focused on himself than the dying person. And
later still, when I became involved with the death-with-dignity movement (a pro
assisted suicide movement), we all couldn't help noticing that Kevorkian had no
interest in joining with other people who were looking for ways to make death
with dignity legal.
I slowly came to realize
that what my husband and I had done was not a good answer to the problem of
assisting in a death like my mother's. In the first place, it might not have
worked. We were amateurs, after all, and dying is trickier than one thinks. My
mother had to take the lethal medication with the greatest care and
preparation. Second, it's risky psychologically to have family members help
people die. Sometimes the feelings between the dying person and the family
members are not loving enough to make it feel like the right thing to do. And
in some cases, it might not be the right thing to do.
What are some potential problems with assisting in someone’s death?
______________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________.
But I knew there had to
be some good way to help suffering people like my mother, who, shortly before
she died, asked me a question that stayed in my mind: "What happens to
other people who don't have you?"
I had no idea, but I
know now. In 1994, the state of Oregon passed a law allowing physicians to give
a lethal prescription to terminally ill, mentally competent Oregon residents.
In 2008, the state of Washington passed a similar law. And — so far at least —
they're the only ones. Because when attempts have been made to introduce the
law in other states, like California, opponents — particularly the Roman
Catholic Church — have waged powerful campaigns of disinformation. ("Your
doctor will kill you," etc.)
Many people who believe
the claim that their physicians will kill them confuse the Oregon and
Washington laws, with all of their safeguards, with what Kevorkian did and what
he went to prison for: killing a patient. No matter how altruistic his
intentions may have been, that's what he did — in front of a "60
Minutes" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SJLoCGLPeM) audience no less. Almost
no one in the pro assisted suicide movement — and there are several
organizations now trying to make physician-assisted death available to more
Americans — believe anyone should be killing anyone.
It's about the (qualified) patient ending
his own life when he chooses with (qualified) help.
Reread the italicized words. What does the author think the difference is
between “killing someone” and assisted suicide? _____
______________________________________________________________________________________________________.
It's about something
else too. It's about peace of mind. I saw firsthand what it means to a person
to know she is no longer "trapped in life," which is how my mother
put it. She felt she, again, was in control. The feeling of being in control seemed
to wipe away her terror. Once she knew she would have access to the lethal
medication, she became so calm that her sister, who didn't know what we were
plotting, thought she was getting well.
How
did the mother react to being given the option of “suicide?” __________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
No doubt Kevorkian's
patients felt as my mother did. The families of his patients defended him
throughout his trials. And those of us in the death-with-dignity movement, who
are trying to change the law, continue to criticize his methods but have come
to feel grateful for one thing he did: bring attention to an important issue.
Now that he is gone, it will, I hope, be easier to convince people that our
efforts to help suffering people die is not about murder. It's about
compassion, freedom and common sense.
Would the other agree with the statement this
statement: Assisted suicide is a form of compassion? ________
How do you know? _____________________________________________________________________
Betty Rollin is on the board of the Death
With Dignity National Center and is the author of "Last Wish."
1.
Is the article for or against euthanasia?
2.
What is the author’s claim? Rewrite it here:
3.
Place a star next to the three biggest supports
for the author’s claim.
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