Chapter 21 death and dying

Although “mercy killing” is illegal, biomedical ethicists regard this view as incompatible with notions of individual autonomy and privacy. The immediate future will entail continued ethical and legal debate over this practice. This chapter indicates and explain attitudes toward beliefs and understanding of death.

But before reading try to do the following:

a) answer and discuss the following questions:

1. Can you explain the difference between active and passive euthanasia? Indicate the legal and ethical issues each raises.

2. Is euthanasia legal in your country? Can you name the countries where it is legal?

3. Discuss how knowledge of one's own death influences younger and older adults. Compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages of dying in a hospital, home, or hospice. Is there any need for death education among children or adults?

b) explain the term “euthanasia” [ֽju:θə'neızıə] (безболезненная, легкая смерть, эвтаназия) in English.

c) find synonyms and antonyms to:

acceptance, denial, despair.

d) guess the meaning of the following words and word combinations without using the dictionary:

Electrical, medical, cortical, patient, passive euthanasia, technology, biological, defects, automobile, chronic, recommend, strategy, professional, hospices, pathology, shock, author, thanatologists.

e) do the following phonetic exercises:

Ex.1. Transcribe and pronounce the words given below.

Intervene, emphasis, prolongation, artificially, failure.

Ex.2. Read the following clusters with assimilation.

As the; fight their; instead the; is the.

Ex.3. Pronounce the words from the text containing a sound [w] correctly.

With, when, toward, would, will, without, between, dwell, ways.

Ex.4. Pronounce the words from the text containing a sound [r].

Practitioners, agree, brain, areas, practice, reflect, different, prolongation, rather, reasons, from, properly, children, responsible, considerably, experience, prefer, afraid, strive, strengths, recovery, grief, funeral, grips.

Ex.5. Pronounce the words from the text containing a nasal sound [ŋ].

Assisting, things, language, prolongation, emphasizing, suffering, during, young, helping, among, anger, bargaining, depending, long-term, life-prolonging, dying, experiencing, according, pining, mourning, surrounding, living, death-avoiding.

Ex.6. Pronounce the words from the text containing a voiced sound [ð].

That, the, rather, than, there, this, their, others, they.

Ex.7. Pronounce the words from the text containing a voiceless sound [Ө].

Both, euthanasia, death, things, birth, healthy, pathology, strengths, three, author, thanatologists.

Ex.8. Pronounce the words from the text containing a sound [v].

Have, involves, intervention, removal, advances, intervene, alive, vary, diverse, values, individuals, avoiders, develop, developmental, level, believe, evidence, provided, five, adaptive, maladaptive, advantages, availability, interactive, conversations, loved.

TEXT

Scan through the text making use of the active terminological vocabulary.