| |
Both euthanasia and abortion are subjects ripe for debate, although unfortunately
opposing sides are often intolerant of each other!
Dame Cicely Saunders, mentioned in this film, is the pioneer of modern palliative
care and was instrumental in creating the modern hospice. She is opposed
to euthanasia, as she believes it makes vulnerable people feel unwanted
and a burden. Instead, she believes, scientific effort should be devoted
to developing increasingly effective methods of relieving pain. Like many
Christians, she emphasizes that human life is special, and a gift, which
should be treated with reverence; she is wary of any attitude which suggests
disposability. From this perspective, euthanasia is seen as suggesting latent
eugenics - a fear that, in the name of National health, the weak, handicapped
and infirm will be picked off. It was, after all, the mentally 'subnormal'
who were first eliminated by Hitler.
Counter-arguments can be found at the website of the Voluntary Euthanasia
Society
http://www.ves.org.uk/Deb_Intro.html
Younger pupils might approach these issues through the collective worship
material based on the life and work of Cicely Saunders at:
http://www.culham.ac.uk/cw/assemblies/001s_saunders.html
This site, and the St Christopher's Hospice site that it points to, could
also be used by older students to start a formal debate (though it is sometimes
profitable to ask what their initial stand on the issue is and then to encourage
them to research and write on the opposing arguments.
|
