Physician Assisted Suicide and American Federalism essays

Physician Assisted Suicide and American Federalism essays According to Brian Bix, law is most often considered with deciding who gets to decide cases. In Americas political system, this question is often distinguished. Much controversy and debate is focused on federalism. At what level should decisions be made, (individual, municipal, state or federal) and which sort of government should decide? This question of who decides is called federalism. The United States is a federal community with powers separated between the federal government and other governments below the federal government, in example, the states. Americas federalist system has valid, yet controversial policies for the way issues are considered in the country. Physician-assisted suicide is just one of them (1). According to Kathryn Tucker, attorney for the respondents in the Washington vs. Glucksberg case, this case presents the question, whether the 14th Amendments guarantee of liberty protects the decision of mentally competent terminally ill adults to bring about impending death in a certain, humane, and dignified matter? (2) It also asks the question, whether a state denies equal protection when it permits terminally ill patients equal protection when it permits terminally ill patients who are on life support to a humane death with medical assistance but prohibits terminally ill patients who are not on life support to exercising the same right by self-administering medication prescribed for that purpose? (Tucker 2) Does the Supreme Court have the powers delegated to them in the United States Constitution to agree or disagree with this issue or is this a case where it is left up to the state to decide? No, they do not. The Court uses the Commerce Clause to show that this case is a federalist issue, but it does not withhold the issues to which the decision is based on. Washington vs. Glucksberg is a judicial case where the court considered the constitutionality of Washington&ap...

one essays

one essays Its one love, one blood, one life we get to do what we should. One life with each other; sisters, brothers. One life, but were not the same, we got to carry each other... U2, in my opinion, is one of, if not the most noteworthy band of its time. Starting their band as 14, 15 and 16year olds, U2 started to appear on the scene in the 80s. This rock band has set a precedent for other bands to live up to. These boys from Dublin have used their art to bring attention to views and issues that affect them and the people of the world. Topics such as religious prejudice, love and self-expression have often been recurring themes in their music. Their song One particularly stands out as probably their best, and most significant song. One brings about Bonos views on life, love, and companionship. Love is a temple, loves a higher law... Love is one of U2s themes in the song One. The emotion of love is a multisided feeling. A person can love their family, their friends, and their spouse and all forms of that emotion encompass a different feeling. Aside from the love aspect of this song, Bono also sings about life, and how people should concentrate more on living their life to the fullest instead of just getting by. Its one life, we got to do what we should. The idea that U2 is trying to get across is that many people do not consider the consequences of their actions before they act. I feel that many people do not get to know enough of the peers to the extent where they would say they love them. And this is unfortunate, for love is an emotion that a person can keep giving. There is no limit on the amount of love a person can offer, and not enough people express themselves accordingly. In reference to living life to the fullest, I strongly feel that not enough people do. Too many people put off things ...

Summary three articles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Summary three articles - Essay Example This structure offered a solid statement on the connection between human rights and business practices; identifying that while governments have the principal duty to safeguard and uphold human rights, businesses have the duty to value the human rights of their workers and consumers. It also reiterated the importance of wronged persons having access to efficient non-judicial as well as judicial remedies in cases of contraventions of human rights. The United Nations Human Rights Council collectively authorized the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, in 2011, to make the framework functional. These doctrines present a global standard for checking as well as addressing the risk of unfavorable human outcomes that are related to business functions. The principles include preventing and dealing with favoritism and harassment, supporting women to take over roles of leadership, encouraging companies to institute paid parental leave , encouraging factors that help consumers to reach businesses more effectively, and endorsing plans for disability action. Other principles are promoting practices that preserve the environment, resolving grievances, and removing barriers against employees of a mature age. Global corporations are habitually accused of being offenders in conflicts over human rights abuses as well as ecological problems in developing nations. Due to the lack of financial assets, the groups campaigning for environmental preservation usually appeal to overseas consumer audiences to coerce multinational corporations into doing the right thing. The Royal Dutch/Shell first discovered oil in the Nigerian Ogoni lands in 1958. Some environmental protection groups assert that the corporation has raked in more than $30 billion as a result of oil mining since then. However, Shell has not appeared to give back in any way to the community that

Article meta-analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Article meta-analysis - Essay Example The article argues that the limited amount of earning in the labor market is implicated to the individual poverty and the difference in groups’ rates poverty. The main goal of the article was to give an alternative view of how labor markets work to generate poverty that provides that provides a richer basis for generating good policy advice. The article believes that the working class, who are the main contributors of the poverty, is seriously limited and flawed. Because of this, they provide a poor basis for generating good antipoverty policy advice (Swinton 221) Economic theory related to the issue As stated above, the article tried to expound the issue of poverty among the working class individuals from the economic point of view. The article argues that the kind of poverty affecting the working class occurs primarily due to the interaction between the supply and demand forces in a competitive market environment. It states that the difference in levels of poverty experience d by different families who are exposed to the same poverty standards occurs strictly from differences in the ownership of or willingness to supply labor. The article therefore, states that poverty, unemployment, or underemployment can be corrected only through adoption f efficient market processes. The article found out that the working class povert

Vietnam Veterans Memorial Essay Example for Free

Vietnam Veterans Memorial Essay I can get no satisfaction †¦ Rolling Stones Now here we are, standing near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Fashioned from stark slabs of black granite, this memorial perfectly represents America’s collective memory of its longest war and first defeat. The memorial, like the memory, is both somber and ambiguous. On the polished face of the memorial appear the names of some 58,000 U.S. military personnel who died in Indochina. My friend’s name is one of those names. This was the greatest cost of the war of our country. There were others as well: the bitterness of over 3 million Vietnam veterans who returned to more scorn than gratitude from their fellow citizens; the inflation that followed years of deficit financing to help cover more than $150 billion in war expenses; bruising divisions within American society about responsibility for the nation’s defeat and the devastation of the peoples and lands of Indochina; and a public cynicism about government, reinforced by the Watergate scandal, that was to mark U.S. politics for many years. However, I wouldn’t like to put the card before the horse and thus I’ll try to tell you the whole story about the America of those days in all possible details.   I’ll tell you how everything started and where it ended; about our youth and our epoch, which nowadays one can easily call the Vietnam War Era. We had had very poor knowledge of Vietnam by July 27, 1964. On that exact day the news reported that 5,000 US military advisors were ordered to South Vietnam to join other American militaries and support the government of South Vietnam in its struggle against the Communists of the North. Today I say that day marked the beginning of new era for all of us. How it started    I should tell that the very beginning of the Vietnam War had contained much controversy that later generated negative attitude of our society towards that military campaign. Now I understand that the initial problem lay in following. Congress passed the resolution in 1964 to support Johnson in taking measures to protect U.S. armed forces in Indochina. As requested by Johnson, Congress passed the resolution in response to incidents between U.S. naval destroyers and North Vietnamese gunboats in the Gulf of Tonkin, off the coast of North Vietnam. But this resolution was not the official declaration of the war against North Vietnam however served for Johnson as justification for sending 500,000 troops into South Vietnam. The President’s administration to avoid disquieting people did not use word â€Å"war† and invented a devious substitute for it: the â€Å"functional equivalent† of a declaration of war. We started discussion as regards the appropriateness of treating that resolution as declaration of the war. And as time went by our society split up into two camps: the supporters and detractors of war. Political division of society    Moreover, we felt that not only Americans are dubious of their attitude towards the war. The whole world was also divided into two hostile camps: supporters of American invasion into Vietnam (capitalistic democratic countries) and opponents of the military actions (communistic totalitarian countries). You must know that America has always been the proponent of democratic principles. What should you also keep in mind is that it was the time of the Cold War development. I must admit that the existence of external foe (the Communism) was permanently felt by every American. We witnessed of the development of the Cold War, Cuban Missile Crisis when the Third World War nearly started, we watched how the nuclear power of the Soviet Union was rising. The fear of nuclear war haunted our country throughout the decade. Increase of social well-being    The threat of war had impacted all spheres of our life. We witnessed how police spent much time training for the very real possibility of nuclear attack. You would not believe but it is a fact that the threat of war was the reason for building of the Interstate Highway System during the 1960s. Our highways and roads expended quickly. Consequently, automobile became a common thing at the end of World War II and the demand for it was continuously growing. In the 1960s I and almost all my friends had a car and the number of young people driving a car reached an unprecedented level. At the same time our every day life contained the events not related to the Vietnam War. First of all it was a time of the unprecedented change in U.S. society. For the first time for the whole history we felt what the prosperity is! Technological advances in electronics, telecommunications and transportation changed the American lifestyle. A car became an affordable luxury for every American and since that time we could freely travel around the country.    Social protests The changes in our material well-being caused the drastic changes in the social order of our nation. I and my peers were born during the American first wave of the â€Å"baby boom† caused our young adult moms who followed the open rebel against society and those who represented its authority. To my view it was one of the implications of prosperity of American society. Only the prosperous people have courage to express their ideas freely.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Nevertheless, even well-being could not shield the upheaval rising within our nation. As U.S. troops and hardware poured into Vietnam, the casualty figures mounted and domestic unease intensified. Here I have to mention the anti-war movements of the Vietnam War Era. So, in the 1960s The New Left movement appeared. At those days the mass media treated them as parasites rejecting American values. But today I understand that they were young people with radical standpoints who attempted to change our society for better. The New Left was a movement of self-understood radicals, mostly students. Most of the central figures were my peers in their twenties during that decade, and were born during or just before World War II; most of the rank and file were born after the war and too were part of the mentioned baby boom, which filled the expanding colleges and universities. Although the central figures began as student activists, the New Left grew into an intellectual tendency that included academics, principally in the social sciences and humanities; professionals (doctors, lawyers, social workers, etc.) who shared its concern for the rights of helpless and victimized people. So where did they spring from, you wonder. Seeking intellectual coherence, student activists borrowed the term New Left from British intellectuals who had left the Communist Party and helped form the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (it was in 1957). Unlike the Britons, most of the U.S. New Left were not Marxists. They hoped to find other social constituencies with the social commitment to transform society in an egalitarian and democratic direction. I cannot help but describe the activity of this organization in details as my view of them has changed since then. We were continuously informed through TV, radio and newspapers on communist threat. We were told the communists had allegedly penetrated all spheres of our life and due to this the New Left made a noise in our society. From 1965 on, the main force that swelled the New Left was the Vietnam War. Gathering strength, the New Left spun off a movement against the war, and in the popular mind became principally identified with that movement. Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), which had nine chapters and some 600 members in 1963, grew to some 300 chapters and 100,000 members in 1969. National demonstrations against the war grew from 25,000 people (April 1965) to 500,000 (November 1969). As the war escalated, the New Left (or what increasingly called itself â€Å"the movement†) became not only larger but more militant.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   During this time, however, the core of New Left organizers came to regard themselves as more than a protest movement. They increasingly saw themselves as committed to a radical transformation with an antiauthoritarian spirit. Pragmatic, many were reluctant to call themselves â€Å"socialist† or â€Å"anarchist†; they borrowed elements from both traditions, as well as from liberalism. Toward that end, they experimented with community organizing among the poor; with projects in student-centered education; with attempts to radicalize factory workers. But their principal base was the university campuses. Best represented among elite universities at the beginning of their movement, their class base later moved progressively downward. By 1970, demonstrations against the draft, against military education, against corporate recruiters, against disciplinary rules, and in favor of ethnic studies departments took place on hundreds of campuses and turned into a real trouble for authorities.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   By 1967, most of my friends in the New Left had moved (in the words of their own slogan) â€Å"from protest to resistance.† We, observing the massive disaffection of college-educated youth as signaled in drug use, popular music, hippie clothing, long hair, and so forth came to feel that a radical transformation of the society was necessary, although they had little conception of a new order. By 1968, we saw institutions from university administrations to the Democratic Party as hopelessly oppressive. Opposition to draft In relation to the protests of the young generation I want to stress upon such phenomenon of those days as draft evasion. Some of those who opposed the war were driven by the fact that as Johnson’s policy escalated, more and more young people were drafted into the armed services and sent to Vietnam. By 1967, half of the military servants were draftees. By 1969, more than the half of all combat deaths were draftees. These were extremely discouraging data.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   I cannot but stress that no other war produced so much opposition to the draft. This fear was partially caused by its unfairness. Until 1968 senior students were entitled to defer military service by the time they finished their study. Another fact that evoked our rejection was the class injustice; many young middle-class men joined the National Guard and Reserves on the likely gamble that they would not be called up for duty in Southeast Asia. Consequently, the Vietnam War appeared to many to be a working-class war. There was a disproportion in numbers of draftees and enlisted men who mostly came from blue-collar class. During the war a lot of my male contemporaries preferred exile to Canada and Sweden to avoid the draft. The prospect of the draft also served as impetus for eligible guys to start family and have children, or continue their education.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As it could have been expected increasing draft resistance took form of civil disobedience and severe discipline problems. The poorly motivated behavior of militants in the field made the government think of dramatic reform. The president Nixon established a lottery system trying to make the draft system at least a little fairer. But we took it as a cynical joke. In September 1971, Nixon’s proposal for All-Volunteer Force was passed by Congress, and in July 1973, Nixon terminated the draft. Fight for you right      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There is one important figure whom I cannot skip in my story of public protests. I am speaking about Martin Luther King. King started his social discussion attacking segregation as he hopscotched the nation. Later King attempted not only to achieve civil rights, but also to stop the Vietnam War and to eliminate American poverty. On 4 April 1968, an assassin’s bullet killed Martin Luther King Jr.; riots exploded in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere. Another horrible assassination occurred the same year. In June, Robert Kennedy, John Kennedy’s brother and a presidential candidate in his own right, was shot and killed in Los Angeles. These terrifying events considerably undermine government’s credibility in our minds. Nonetheless, no assassinations could stop public protests which did their job gradually. The antiwar movement dramatically affected our national domestic policy. After 35,000 mostly young people besieged the Pentagon on 21–22 October 1967, Lyndon Johnson launched a public relations campaign that emphasized how well the war was going. When the Communists of the North Vietnam launched their seemingly successful nationwide Tet Offensive on 30 January 1968, most of us felt that we had been deceived by our own government. It caused even more severe protests. That widespread public disaffection led to Johnson’s decision on 31 March 1968 not to escalate further and not to stand for reelection. We carried our point and finally a man who had initiated war in Vietnam stopped being our president. Cultural Revolution As I already mentioned at the beginning our society was split in terms of political views. The divisions were cultural and generational too. A youthful counterculture expressed its alienation in more open sexuality, free love; long hair, and cast-off clothing; rock music, the Beatles, Bob Dylan, the Doors and Rolling Stones; and marijuana and other consciousness-altering substances. At Woodstock, New York, in August 1969 I witnessed the greatest youth gathering. About half a million of young people stayed there for a three-day music festival, laced with political and cultural protest. What we may conclude    As you can see from my story the Vietnam War Era was a complicated period for our society from which I hope it had derived correct conclusions. In my point of view these conclusions can be expressed by one sentence: â€Å"Win quickly or stay out†. Regardless of the camp to which you belong to those emphasizing the former or to those emphasizing the latter, you should feel that you are a part of one nation. I believe that the memorial near which we are staying now will help us remember this simple principle. Bibliography:    George C. Herring, Americas Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950–1975, 2nd ed. New York, 1986.

The Scaffold in The Scarlet Letter :: Scarlet Letter essays

The Scaffold in The Scarlet Letter The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is characterized by three major events that occur on the town scaffold. What takes place on this platform will determine the path which the three main characters, Hester Prynne, Mr. Dimmsdale, and their daughter Pearl will follow. The three scenes mark the beginning, middle, and end of their ignominy. The scaffold is a platform where criminals are punished before all the townspeople. In this case, the criminal is Hester Prynne and the crowd has gathered to witness her shame. The first scene at the ominous platform is Hester's first public appearance with the child and the scarlet letter. Hester's husband, Roger Prynne (Chillingworth) makes a sudden reappearance and is among the onlookers. The Reverend Mr. Dimmsdale is also there but he does not stand with Hester on the scaffold, instead he stands on the balcony with those who pass judgment on her. During this time, Reverend Mr. Wilson demands that Hester give the name of her lover. He gives her the chance to "take the scarlet letter off [her] breast" if she were to "speak out his name"(64). Had she relented and revealed his name she might never have had to endure the humiliation of the scarlet letter. But she refused, and so her path was set. The second time at the scaffold was a turning point for Hester. She, Pearl, and Dimmsdale are together for the first time, "...the three formed an electric chain" as if they were always meant to be together if something, or someone, had not gotten in their way (140). But it is here that Hester finally realizes the damage which hiding Chillingworth's identity has caused Dimmsdale. Chillingworth was "a secret enemy...continually at his side, under the semblance of a friend and helper..." when in truth he was tormenting Dimmsdale at every opportunity (153). When Hester sees the miserable state that he is in, weak and "on the verge of lunacy", it leads her to later seek him out in the forest to confess the true identity of Chillingworth, which in turn leads to their plan to leave Salem. Their plans were never carried through because of another visit to

Alienation and the Search for Identity

Modernist literature reached its peak between 1900 and 1920’s. Alienation was one of its characteristic themes. Described as either the separation from the self or from the world, alienation, soon, will drive an individual to look for his/her niche in this world. The concept of alienation will be examined through the literary works of Frost, Hemingway, and Hurston. Robert Frost was known for his works depicting realities of rural life. This, he clearly portrayed in his poem Out, Out. The title was elicited from the end of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth: Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player.That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. We see here in Macbeth and in Out, Out the fragility and the seemingly insignificance of life. Life was taken and it was gone in the world. Frost used narrative to create a clear and objective picture of each event in Out, Out. This poem illustrates the difficulty of life in farmlands. The poem begins with the introduction of the snarling and rattling sound of the buzz saw. It implies the danger it can bring to anyone near it, most especially to the boy operating it.The scene was described as beautiful and pleasing. From the yard was the view of five mountain ranges, each one behind the other. The family and the scene seemed to be the world in which the boy’s life revolved around with. Nonetheless, the family was too busy too relish all these. Soon, the boy’s sister was finished preparing supper. When she summoned everyone to eat, the boy lost attention of what he was doing and the saw accidentally cut through his hands. The boy knew too well that even though he was young, he was fulfilling an important role in the family.He foresees a grave future if loses his hand and so he tells her sister to tell the doctor not to cut his hands out. It was seen that the boy was more con cerned with his responsibility in the family than his self. If he loses his hand, he knows that he will be of great burden to his family. He will feel alienated from the family who does hard work everyday. By the end of the poem, the boy dies after the removal of his hand and this served to be his escape from estrangement. His family, on the other hand, since they were alive, continued with their concerns.Earnest Hemingway is known for his simple and short sentences bearing complex ideas. One of his classic short stories is Hills Like White Elephant whose main theme revolved around the conflict between the intentions of two people. The story occurred beside a train station in the Ebro River valley in Spain. Hemingway used the third person point of view limiting the readers to read the thoughts of the main characters. Through the exchange of words between the American and the woman named Jig, the readers will soon realize the issue that they were discussing.Aside from the discussion, the use of symbolism enhanced the mood of the story and complemented the words spoken and feelings of the main characters, especially those of Jig. The story begins with the description of the scene: ‘.. there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun. Here, the opposing directions suggest that one is in the midst of perplexity and is needed to decide before long. Following this, the two main characters were introduced. Through their dialogue, it was implied that the characters were discussing about abortion.The day grew hotter which indicated the pressure that builds within the characters. The narrator describes the observation of Jig: The girl stood up and walked to the end of the station. Across, on the other side, were fields of grain and trees along the banks of the Ebro. Far away, beyond the river, were mountains. The shadow of a cloud moved across the field of grain and she saw the river through the trees. The natural imagery f ormed leads the readers to Jig’s emotions. She sees her current state as the fertile field along the river.On the other hand, in the shadow of the clouds across the field, she sees the despondency abortion will bring to her life. The American wants Jig to pursue abortion so that he can continue with his senseless life of drinking and relentless travelling. Jig, conversely, prefers to deviate from the usual and start settling down. Jig knows what she wants but feels having no sense of self-government. It is as if the American has the last say for whatever she does to her own body. Jig may have her reasons for these. The story concludes with the couple waiting for their train turning up in five minutes.Zora Neale Hurston is a renowned anthropologist and writer of African-American Literature. Her short story Sweat is about a strong woman who has endured fifteen years of hardship from his husband Syke. The story is in narrative form and the use of the third person point of view j ust like the two other literary works mentioned above, created an impartial and rich picture of the scene and the characters. The use of symbolism and allusion provided added meaning to the dialogues. Delia Jones was described as a hardworking woman who worked all week to be able to earn a little.She had been able to put up their house and provide for herself and her husband. She was the representation of goodness in the story while Syke, her husband was the image of evil. Syke was brutal to his wife; he wanted Delia dead so that he could remarry. The townspeople knew what Delia was going through but they remained indifferent. Nothing could help Delia but herself. Her unyielding faith in God had kept her moving on each day of her life. One day, Syke brought home a box containing a six-foot rattlesnake. Delia was furious. Her husband wanted to scare her to death; it pleased him when he sees her terrified.One day the same snake will be the one to reap the life of Syke. Syke was drunk and did not know that the snake escaped from the box. He jumped to the bed where the snake was and it all happened. The snake bit him and then he died. Those fifteen years of marriage and suffering from Syke came to an end. After years of being separated from herself and the world, she was finally free. Free from brutality and distress; she was alive again. She can have what was left of herself and start a new life. Syke’s death served as the solution to Delia’s seclusion from herself and the world. The death of one brought back the life of the other.In the works of Frost, Hemingway, and Hurston, the use of the narrative form and the third person point of view were observed as to have enhanced the ideas presented. Symbolism and the use of figures of speech paired with the dialogues between characters have enabled readers to see the thoughts of the protagonists. In these three literary works, alienation brought the same feelings to the person affected. Fear and wretched ness were felt by the boy in Out, Out; by Jig in Hills Like White Elephant; and by Delia in Sweat. Their lives and decisions are influenced by the world that surrounds them.Both the boy and Delia were able to escape alienation. It was through death that they were able to avoid the feeling of nothingness. In the case of Jig, Hemingway gave the reader the opportunity to conclude the story. Would death be the key for this one, too? References: Frost, Robert. 1916. . Hemingway, Ernest. â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants†. 1927. May 31 2009. . Hurston, Zora Neale. â€Å"Sweat†. 1926. .

Bloodless Surgery

Bloodless Surgery| [Type the document subtitle]| Michael Jones| Abstract There have been many court cases that has made, parent who deny their child blood transfusion, to have to get one. Most time the courts will side with the parents, but if their decision not to is life threatening, the court side with the hospital. Most times it is for religious reasons that parent don’t want their child to have blood transfusion. There are many risks associated with blood transfusion, some parents don’t want to take that risk. Some of the diseases you can get are hepatitis B and hepatitis C. HIV and AIDS can also be contracted through blood transfusion. It can even lead to death of a recipient. Is it ethical for parents to chose for their kids not to have blood transfusion. There is an alternative to blood transfusion. There are many tools and techniques to prevent the need for blood transfusion. Many doctors today are moving more towards bloodless surgery. The growth of bloodless surgery can be largely due to the number of Jehovah’s Witness patients. It is beneficial for both the patient and the hospital. More cost effective and faster recovery. I will talk about how preoperative planning is important for a successful bloodless surgery. I will touch on technique like cell savaging and Normothermia. Also introduce you to a cool tool called Cyber-Knife. I will show how Jehovah’s Witnesses and their Hospital Liaison Committee help my family when it came to bloodless surgery. Blood transfusions have been known to have many dangers. In most cases the cons outweighs the pros, causing many people to consider alternative measures. Today one of the most innovative and effective alternatives is bloodless surgery. In the event that you are faced by such a challenging yet important decision such a surgery, allow me to enlighten you on some of the statistics, procedures and benefits of bloodless surgery to assist you in making an informed decision. As we look at some of the dangers that are associated with blood transfusion alongside modern methods, equipment and benefits of bloodless surgery. We will see how these procedures have progressed over the years, and how the increase in use of bloodless surgery can be attributed to a small group of people known as Jehovah’s Witness. Witnesses as patients will not accept blood transfusion, under any circumstances. This has caused doctors to look for other solutions. The reasons why you should use bloodless surgery are the risk associated with blood transfusion. Transfusions have been used for over fifty years in clinical medicine. Within those fifty years it has become apparent that the risk such as infectious viruses, bacterial infections and even death has been linked to blood transfusion. Infectious viruses include but are limited to blood borne pathogens like hepatitis B and C. The Blood bank reports â€Å"for screened units of blood in 2007, 1 in 137,000 had hepatitis B, fewer than 1 in 1,000,000 for hepatitis C† (Nagarsheth, N. P. , Sasan, F. 2009) Blood transfusions have been associated with higher incidence of bacterial infections. â€Å"Bacterial infection was 2 percent non-transfusion patients, 15 percent for those with up to 2 units of blood red blood cells transfused, 22 percent with three to five units of blood, and 29 percent for patients transfused with 6 or more units of blood. † (Nagarsheth, N. P. , Sasan, F. 009) The more blood received in a transfusion, the more likely you are to get a postoperative infection. Many People today receive multiple transfusions. Transfusion in time develops allergenic immunization. This limits the supply of compatible blood. These numbers may seem like lottery chances, but why take the chance. Ultimately there is death. Death is not a foreign outcome of blood transfusion. Transfusion related acute l ung injury or TRALI, was first reported in the early 90’s. It’s a life threading reaction following a blood transfusion. TRALI is now known to cause many deaths each year. However, experts believe that the number of death is much higher than what is reported in relation to TRALI, because many doctors are unaware of the symptoms. The cause for such a reaction is conclusive. New scientist states â€Å"The blood that causes TRALI appears to come primarily from people who have multiple transfusions. TRALI is the top reason for blood transfusion death in the world. Jehovah’s Witnesses have benefited greatly from their faithful course. Although their reason for not having blood transfusions are not because of the negative reasons that derive from it, but because of their devout belief in God and the Bible. They obey scripture such as Acts 15; 20 which states â€Å"abstain from blood† and Leviticus 7; 26 â€Å"you must not eat any blood. † Jehovah’s Witnesses respect Gods authority and has taken their stand against blood transfusions, regardless of the outcome. If you do not agree with such a point of view, let’s examine the benefits to bloodless surgery and its advancing technology. Over the years the tools and techniques of surgery without blood transfusion has improved greatly. One tool or technique used for surgeries with a lot of blood lost is called cell salvage. This involves recovering the blood lost by a patient, cleaning it, and putting it back into the patient. This is done non-stop during surgery. â€Å"Technological advances have increased system automation†¦ offering higher processing speeds and better end product. †(Lawrence Goodnough. 2003 Vol. 4) Cell salvaging is also cost effective for the hospital and the patient. If there is a surgery with lots of blood lost, it is cheaper to use cell salvage than the units of blood used in a transfusion. Also the recovery time is faster reducing the time and money a patient spends at a hospital. How can blood loss during surgery be lowered in order to lessen the chance for need of a blood transfusion? The key is preoperative planning for a successful bloodless surgery. The first thing to be considered is the amount of red blood cell (RBC) that will lost before a transfusion is needed. This is called the transfusion threshold. Another thing that can be done before surgery is to â€Å"increase the patients RBC mass. † (Watchtower Bible and Track Society, 2004) RBC mass can be increased by injection of iron into the patient. Also erythropoietin(EPO). EPO is a protein hormone produced by the kidneys. â€Å"This synthetic hormone acts like the natural erythropoietin found in our kidneys and stimulates the bone marrow to send new, fresh red cells into the bloodstream. † (Watchtower. org)EPO is normally given 10 to 20 days before surgery. If you increase the RBC mass and lower the transfusion threshold, it allows for an even greater acceptable amount of blood loss. Normothermia is a technique used to keep the patient’s body temperature during surgery. This helps keep the blood flowing properly. Managing the patient body temperature throughout the entire process reduces the surreal shock to the body which reduces the chances of incurring infection. The patient can be warmed by a thermal suit or a machine that infuses warm fluid into the body. The position can also help reduces blood loss during surgery. Local veins pressure changes depending on the field of relativity to the heart. Low pressure goes hand in hand with blood saved. Stanford University Medical Center is a pioneer in the use of bloodless surgery in neurosurgery. â€Å"Without sawing into the skull or so much as cutting the scalp, they are curing patients whose brain and spine tumors were not long ago considered a death sentences. † (Fillon, Mike 1997) These surgeries are possible with the use of Stanford University’s computer mediated stereotaxis radio surgery known as the Cyber-knife. The Cyber-Knife is basically a robotic x-ray gun that shots small amounts of radiation into the tumor in a lot of different directions. This kills off the infected tissue without over exposing other parts of the body to radiation. Cyber-knife is a robotic arm that locks the radiation beam on to the tumor and constantly readjusts its aim in response to the patient’s natural small movement. To help doctors in providing treatment without blood transfusions, Jehovah's Witnesses have developed a helpful liaison service. Presently, more than 1,400 Hospital Liaison Committees worldwide are equipped to provide doctors and researchers with medical literature from a data base of over 3,000 articles related to bloodless medicine and surgery. Not only Jehovah's Witnesses, but all patients in general today, are less likely to be given unnecessary transfusions because of the work of the Jehovah’s Witnesses' Hospital Liaison Committees. In many surgeries which doctors felt that a transfusion was needed. The liaison committee has provided them with medical literature that shows how effective EPO can be. Some did not think that it would work fast enough to make up the amount of blood needed. A number of cases have shown how quickly EPO gets results. In one instance, on the very same day after EPO was administered, the count of new red cells was already four times normal! †(Watchtower. org) My mother and father got to see how effective the liaison committee, and blood surgery first hand. When my brother was 16 years old, we found out that he had cancer in his knee. At that time there was no hospitals with a committee or doctor that would perform bloodless surgery on Staten Island. So the hospital liaison committee located Mount Sinai Hospital that had one doctor that did do bloodless surgery. My brother was put on EPO, and was the only patient that was. For all of the doctors this was their first time use EPO, or even doing bloodless surgery. They were extremely surprised how much better he was doing than the other kid’s that were having blood transfusions. â€Å"It was really sad to see all those little kids and babies having blood pumped in to them. † That is what my mother said when I was asking her about my brother surgery. She said â€Å"Junior what the only kid that was up walking around, all the other kids was in their beds look like they was about to die. † Two things happened to my brother. First he lost all his hire because of chemotherapy. He also lost his leg because that was the only way they could remove all the cancer. It is reasonable to conclude that although blood transfusion has been around for many years. With all its side effects such as, infectious viruses bacterial infections and even death. It is quickly becoming a thing of the past! With strong scriptural basis and its practical benefits, Jehovah’s Witnesses have been the main reason for the growth of bloodless surgery. Today hospitals across the world implanted bloodless programs to help meet the demand for this growing number. Along with that, doctors have developed many techniques and tools in order to be successful in bloodless surgery. Techniques such as cell savaging and blood recovery and tools like the Cyber-knife. This have allowed for more cost effective surgeries, faster recovery, lower chance for infection and viruses. If ever surgery is something you have to undergo. I hope that I have persuaded you to make the right decision. References Cantrell, S. (2010). New normothermia measure heats up patient- temperature management. Healthcare Purchasing News, 34(3), 22-29. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Fillon, M. (1997). Bloodless surgery. Popular Mechanics, 174(1), 48. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Goodnough, L. , ; Shander, A. (2003). Evolution in alternatives to blood transfusion. Hematology Journal, 4(2), 87. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Nagarsheth, N. P. , ; Sasan, F. (2009). Bloodless Surgery in Gynecologic Oncology. Mount Sinai Journal of Medicine, 76(6), 589-597. doi:10. 1002/msj. 20146 Watch Tower Bible and track society of Pennsylvania. (2004) Transfusion Alternatives, Document Series. Watchtower. org

Saltpeter or Potassium Nitrate Facts

Saltpeter or Potassium Nitrate Facts Saltpeter is a common chemical, used for many products and science projects. Heres a look at what exactly saltpeter is. Saltpeter is the natural mineral source of the chemical potassium nitrate, KNO3. Depending on where you live, it may be spelled saltpetre  rather than saltpeter. Before systematic naming of chemicals, saltpeter was called nitrate of potash. It has also been called Chinese salt or Chinese snow. In addition to KNO3, the compounds sodium nitrate (NaNO3), calcium nitrate (Ca(NO3)2), and magnesium nitrate (Mg(NO3)2) are also sometimes referred to as saltpeter. Pure saltpeter or potassium nitrate is a white crystalline solid, usually encountered as a powder. Most potassium nitrate is produced using a chemical reaction of nitric acid and potassium salts, but bat guano was an important historical natural source. Potassium nitrate was isolated from guano by soaking it in water, filtering it, and harvesting the pure crystals that grow. It may be produced in a similar manner from urine or manure. Uses of Saltpeter Saltpeter is a common food preservative and additive, fertilizer, and oxidizer for fireworks and rockets. It is one of the principal ingredients in gunpowder. Potassium nitrate is used to treat asthma and in topical formulations for sensitive teeth. It was once a popular medication for lowering blood pressure. Saltpeter is a component of condensed aerosol fire suppression systems, salt bridges in electrochemistry, heat treatment of metals, and for thermal storage in power generators. Saltpeter and Male Libido Its a popular myth that saltpeter inhibits male libido. Rumors abound that saltpeter has been added to food in prison and military installations to curb sexual desire, but there is no evidence to support this has been done or would even work. Saltpeter and other nitrates have a long history of medical use, but it is toxic in high doses and can produce symptoms ranging from a mild headache and upset stomach to kidney damage and dangerously altered pressure. Sources: LeConte, Joseph (1862). Instructions for the Manufacture of Saltpeter. Columbia, S.C.: South Carolina Military Department. p. 14. Retrieved 4/9/2013. UK Food Standards Agency: Current EU approved additives and their E Numbers. Retrieved 3/9/2012. US Food and Drug Administration: Food Additives and Ingredients. Retrieved 3/9/2013. Snopes.com: The Saltpeter Principle. Retrieved 3/9/2013.

Beautyism and Friends

Beautyism and Friends Beautyism and Friends Beautyism and Friends By Maeve Maddox It’s not in my two main dictionaries yet, but beautyism has found a place in the catalogue of English words ending in -ism: Beautyism in the Workplace: Disguised Discrimination Jawahar and Mattsson (2005) investigated sexism and beautyism effects in employment processes using experimental research. The suffix -ism has been a prolific source of English nouns since the Middle Ages, but this newest use, to form words that denote perceived superiority or discrimination, is fairly recent and has produced the following nouns: ageism: Prejudice or discrimination on the grounds of a persons age; age discrimination, especially against the elderly. racism: prejudice and antagonism towards people of other races, especially those felt to be a threat to ones cultural or racial integrity or economic well-being. sexism: prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex. beautyism: prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination on the basis of physical attractiveness or lack of it. On the Ngram chart, the word racism begins a dramatic rise in the 1930s. Sexism and ageism begin their rise at the end of the 1960s. Beautyism barely shows in comparison with the others, but is on the graph beginning in 1971. The OED added these additional definitions for the use of the suffix -ism in 2004: a. Forming nouns with the sense ‘belief in the superiority of one [something] over another’; as racism, sexism, speciesism, etc. b. Forming nouns with the sense ‘discrimination or prejudice against on the basis of [something]; as ageism, bodyism, heightism, faceism, lookism, sizeism, weightism, etc. Some other uses of -ism To form nouns that name the process or completed action of a verb in -ize: baptize/baptism criticize/criticism, exorcize/exorcism plagiarize/plagiarism ostracize/ostracism To form nouns that name the action or conduct of a class of persons: hero/heroism patriot/patriotism despot/despotism To form the name of a system of theory or practice, sometimes on the name of the subject or object, and sometimes on the name of its founder: Arianism Buddhism Conservatism Puritanism Platonism Feminism To form a noun denoting a peculiarity or characteristic, especially of language: Americanism Gallicism archaism colloquialism solecism sophism witticism Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:36 Adjectives Describing Light10 Types of TransitionsQuiet or Quite?

USA Patriot Act 2001 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

USA Patriot Act 2001 - Research Paper Example Jim Sensenbrenner brought H.R. 3162 to the floor. The bill was passed on October 24, 2001 with the overwhelming support of both the Democrat and Republican parties. The nation's security enforcers such as the FBI and CIA seemed to be powerless to stop such a strong opponent from attacking America because, as then senator Joe Biden explained it (â€Å"The USA PATRIOT Act: Preserving Life and Liberty â€Å", n.d.): â€Å"Many of the tools the Act provides to law enforcement to fight terrorism have been used for decades to fight organized crime and drug dealers, and have been reviewed and approved by the courts. As Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) explained during the floor debate about the Act, "the FBI could get a wiretap to investigate the mafia, but they could not get one to investigate terrorists. To put it bluntly, that was crazy! What's good for the mob should be good for terrorists." (Cong. Rec., 10/25/01)† At the time that the bill was passed into law, everything that it contained in terms of investigating and going after terrorists on American soil seemed to make sense. The country finally had a law that would force the law enforcement agencies to work as a team rather than independently of each other in an effort to bring terrorist activities to the front lines (Fritscher, 2007). It gave them a legal method through which they could investigate and surveille suspected terrorists. It was actually because of the difficulties that the various government agencies experienced in investigating possible terrorist acts that this law came into being. By allowing the law to give our law enforcement officials the power and tools with which to conduct their investigations pertaining to perceived terrorist threats within the country, our lawmakers have made the country a safer p lace for all concerned to live in (Mathewson, 2009). Under the law, the legal barriers that existed previously which prevented the government agencies from sharing intelligence with one another was removed. Thus allowing for a more collective effort in the fight against terrorist. This was because they now had the ability to see the over all picture of a terrorist plot using bits and pieces of collated information from various sources. To quote Sen. John Edwards (â€Å"The USA PATRIOT Act: Preserving Life and Liberty â€Å", n.d.) : "we simply cannot prevail in the battle against terrorism if the right hand of our government has no idea what the left hand is doing". The U.S.A. Patriot Act of 2001 has the country's best interests at heart. However, there are sectors of society that view the law as one that was haphazardly put together due to the jittery nerves that existed at the time. The law was passed with little to no debate in both legislative houses, and the more than three h undred and forty page document was passed with majority of congress never even having read a single page. All because of a perceived enemy that was little understood in the annals of American history (Point, n.d.). The problem with the law, is that it inadvertently approved investigatory tools that used to be denied by congress on the basis of domestic privacy issues (Point, n.d.). While our constitution guarantees certain rights to privacy in Constitutional Amendments four to eight, the Patriot Act repeals such privacy assurances for its citizens in the name of national security. Instead, the act opens up the citizens of the land to various possible abuses in authority that did not exist before the passing of the US Patriot Act of 200

Ethics in business (case study) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ethics in business (case study) - Essay Example The organization expects compliance with its standards of integrity throughout the organization and will not tolerate employees who achieve results at the cost of violation of law or who deal unscrupulously. It is the policy of the organization that all transactions will be accurately reflected in its books and records by the employees. This, of course, means that falsification of books and records and the creation and maintenance of any off-the record bank accounts are strictly prohibited. The organization anticipates sincerity from employees at all points and observance to its regulations and internal controls. A negativity which might result when the employees obscure information from the organization’s officials or the auditors is that other employees might get an idea that the organizational policies and internal controls can be overlooked when they are problematic. It is the corporation’s policy to make full, fair, accurate, timely and understandable disclosure in reports and documents that the corporation files with the Securities and Exchange Commission and in other public communications. All employees are responsible for reporting material information known to them to higher management so that the information will be available to senior officials responsible for making disclosure decisions. A code of ethics is developed in order to provide the members of the organizations with some broad ethical statements that will guide them through their professional lives and also to identify relevant considerations when ethical uncertainties arise (Anonymous 2008). It facilitates the employees to share common values and a common vision. The development of code of ethics defines behaviors that are both accepted and acceptable in an organization (MacDonald 2009). It further assists in establishing a better organizational culture which would improve the public image of the organization. They also develop a sense of community and belonging