The film by Director Peter Richardson "How to Die in Oregon" is a documentary reflecting a debate over whether or not people in the United States should have the right to die with dignity. It presents compelling arguments for why the right to end one's live should be given to people, who suffer from terminal illness. It gives an intimate insight into their lives, unveiling the reason behind the choices they make. The topic of euthanasia remains highly controversial in ethical, religious and social debates as well as popular views. As the documentary informs, at the time when in 1994 the Oregon law sanctioned the "Death with Dignity Act," only two other countries; Switzerland and Netherlands allowed the practice. The "Death with Dignity …show more content…
Five of the portrayed people suffer from terminal illness. However, only four made the decision to end their lives. One of the men, Andrew, who suffered from terminal prostate cancer was the only one who clearly verbalized his desire to live, and to receive treatment. He however, was refused the necessary treatment that could potentially save his life by the insurance company who rejected his request for treatment, viewing is as futile, and instead offering him palliative care. In the end, the insurance company reversed its initial decision refusing treatment, but only after Andrew, brought his case to the media. He died after four weeks of treatment, succumbing to the …show more content…
As a person living in a secular world, I do believe that everyone has the right to self-determination, and he or she should be able to determine whether their life is worthwhile. As the documentary suggests, not everyone suffering from a terminal illness will choose to hasten their death. Not everyone crippled by their disease who falls at the mercy of their loved one feels humiliated or degraded. We are all very individual creatures with a different threshold for pain, different views and understanding of what "worthwhile life" is. I believe that each one of us should have the right to decide whether we had suffered enough. As a Christian, I also believe that in our public life, there should be a place to bring forth the "thick" traditions into the discussions about life and death, as well as policy discourse regarding health care for everyone. As the issue of the right to die remains controversial one, I believe that we should fall on our Christian stance that teaches us not to harm others, as well as respect their rights. The conflict and the moral dilemma, I had experienced while watching the documentary, comes from these particular teachings. When we enact legislature preventing people from " Death with Dignity" while we know that in some cases, there is no available treatment to relieve suffering; do we not harm them? Do we not impose our views and morality on them by rejecting
“How to Die in Oregon” is a powerful and moving documentary that really opened my eyes to what assisted suicide is and allowed me to develop opinions and feelings on the topic. Before watching the documentary I didn’t know exactly how assisted suicide worked, but I supported it. I believed it should be in a person’s control and their own decision in certain circumstances to choose life or death for themselves. After watching the documentary, my opinion still holds strong, except I now take it more seriously. Obviously life versus death is a very serious matter, and while I still believe it should be the person’s decision, the choice one person makes can leave devastation in their wake. Their families are left broken and grieving. Losing a loved
How to Die in Oregon is a persuasive documentary by Peter Richardson, it was filmed in 2007 and released in 2011. This film is mainly based on Cody Curtis, and Nancy Niedzielski. Oregon became the first state to legalize the death with dignity act on 1994. This act is about physicians assisting terminal ill patients to end their lives. Volunteers from an advocacy group called Compassion and Choices, which assists most individuals who use this law were included, one of many, but the most active member of this organization, is Sue Dessayer Porter, who assisted Roger Sagner, Peter Scott, Adyne Wakefield, and Gordon Green. Roger Sagner was the first person presented in this film and was explained the procedure prior to taking this drug. The volunteer explains that the
I want to write my short reflection paper on How to Die in Oregon. The documentary is making an argument for euthanasia debate. The main point of argument in this documentary is death with dignity. The director wants to support an argument on the side of physician-assisted suicide. First of all, Oregon is the first state to pass the law which has legalized physician-assisted suicide. Therefore, the way it presents is showing some terminally ill patients in Oregon who have the right to take advantage of the death with dignity act. It means that they can make the decision to end their life peacefully by taking the medicine if they don’t want to suffer in pain when the death is inevitable. Most of all, the terminally ill patients who involved
Thousands of people who are terminally ill do not have the right to end their life and are forced to live days or even months suffering to live. Citizens who have the right to the Death with Dignity Act are not among those who continue to suffer. The documentary How to Die in Oregon was produced in 2007. The director of the film’s name is Peter Richardson. The documentary was filmed to influence viewers to support the Death with Dignity Act.
A Life or Death Situation, by Robin Marantz Henig, New York Times, July, 2013, is a review of the debate surrounding the right to a dignified death. It examines the purely philosophical view of the issue; as well as the heart wrenching reality of being faced with that question in one 's personal life. Does a person have a right to choose how he or she dies? How does that choice impact the people who care about about him or her? Should a person who cares about someone be required to cause or aide in his or her death? These questions weigh heavy on the minds of many people, who live
The documentary How to die in Oregon is about the aftermath that has concluded after Oregon enacted the Death with Dignity act in 1994 which was the first law in the United States that gave physicians the ability to prescribe terminally ill patients lethal doses of medication to end their lives. The cameras themselves follow several patients that all had been diagnosed with terminal illnesses. One of the participants, a middle-aged woman with terminal liver cancer, develops her story throughout the course of the film and eventually decides to use her right to die with dignity after experiencing a difficult decline after outliving her 6-month prognosis. Another featured story in this film was about a woman who had lost her husband to brain
How to Die in Oregon is an emotionally charged, and intimate exploration of the controversial “Death with Dignity” Law passed in the state of Oregon in 1994. How to Die in Oregon received the Grand Jury Prize in the U. S. Documentary Competition at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, along with other countless accolades, and is currently available as an HBO Original Film. In his film, filmmaker Peter Richardson, employs the observational mode of documentary to witness how patients families and friends grapple with the legal option of physician assisted suicide. In exploring the complexities surrounding this topic, Richardson interviews doctors on both sides of
First, Connecticut pro-choice supporters attempted to legalize the Death with Dignity Act three times since 2013, as they believe competent, terminally ill individuals in Connecticut should have the legal right to choose medically assisted death. Unfortunately, this legislation has not come to a vote in Connecticut; however, each time more people are supportive of the bill. The last Quinnipiac University Poll, completed in March 2015, has shown that by more than a 2-1 margin (63% vs. 31%), Connecticut voters support “allowing doctors to legally prescribe lethal drugs to help terminally ill patients end their lives” (C&C, Oregon, 2016). The “Death with Dignity Act” originated in Oregon, in 1997 with enough support to be the first state to pass the new law. Washington passed a similar law eleven years later, in 2008. Additionally, Colorado has been the most recent state to have this law passed on November 8, 2016. All the states have modeled after Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act. Specifically, the law states that the person must be terminally ill with less than six months to live, also be at least eighteen
The film " How to Die in Oregon" by director Peter Richardson is a documentary reflecting a debate over whether or not people in the United States should have the right to die with dignity. It presents compelling arguments for why the right to end one 's life should be granted to people, who suffer from terminal illness. It gives an intimate insight into their lives, unveiling the reasons behind the choices they make. The topic of euthanasia remains highly controversial in ethical, religious and social debates as well as popular views.
Oregon Death with Dignity Act to the national level will remedy the controversy of assisted
A Death of One’s Own sheds light onto the controversial issue regarding end of life decisions, providing a few examples of people struggling with these choices. The film tells the stories of three particular individuals, Jim, Kitty, and Ricky, each with a unique end of life situation. Jim suffers from ALS and has specific care requests, 56-year-old Kitty struggles with her uterine cancer and constant pain, and Ricky is a patient dying from severe liver failure who can no longer speak and make decisions on his own. All of these individuals present different, yet similar issues regarding end of their life care. This film describes the importance of advance directives, the arguments surrounding physician assisted suicide, and this prompted me to form my own opinion on preparing my own directives and thoughts on these tough decisions.
Luckily he made it off the operating table alive, despite the fact that the tube had slipped too far. However, he was paralyzed on his left side and died a few weeks later.
The group decided to do a case study on Death and Dignity Act. Through our presentation, the group discussed if Euthanasia was morally and ethically right through the eyes of Thresa Christensen. Thresa Christensen was a character from the case study in which her father decided act upon voluntary active euthanasia. As group, we thought it would be best if is Theresa Christensen spoke on from the behalf of herself as a person who supports voluntary active euthanasia. The case study project has taught me a variety of skills to understand what is morally and ethically right according to the group’s research, biblical standards of ethics, and discovering my personal ethics about euthanasia.
and are in a great deal of pain and distress with no real quality of
The documentary How to Die in Oregon is centered around people making difficult decisions. These decisions are ones that many people do not understand. On one side, the family may look at the decision of the terminally ill individual as selfish. In the video, there were families that came to terms with their loved ones decision. Then, there were outsiders who thought the idea was purely ludicrous and refused to understand the whole concept. The “death with dignity” law grants terminally ill people the right to not have to go through excruciating pain for excess amounts of time. Some people may never understand the amount of pain these individuals go through, which is why they are a bit ignorant to the law in general. They look at it as flat-out suicide which goes against their beliefs. Moreover, looking at the classical rational model of decision making could further explain how individuals make their choice.