Euthanasia: An Inidividual's Choice

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses Noel David Earley's fight against Lou Gehrig's disease and his public fight against Rhode Island's law forbidding assisted suicide. The paper defines both passive and active euthanasia and thoroughly discusses the advantages of both, touching on the reasons one would want to commit assisted suicide.

From the Paper:

"Bow'sprit - n. Nautical. A spar, extending forward from the stem of a ship, to which the stays of the foremast are fastened. This simple sailing term would be the first indicator of the disease that would try to take Noel David Earley's life. In the spring of 1995 when Earley wanted to look up this word in the Mariner's dictionary, he noticed he couldn't go up on his toes when reaching for the book. A few weeks later the diagnosis came: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), better known as Lou Gehrig's disease. A neurological disorder, ALS causes progressive motor loss of the voluntary muscles due to destruction of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. As all voluntary muscle action becomes affected, patients in the later stages of the disease become totally paralyzed. The disease is progressive, relentless and fatal, with no treatment to stop or reverse it. Earley knew this grim prognosis. Ever since the day the doctor broke the news, he was logged on to a computer at a hospital library, absorbing all he could from medical texts and journals."

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