On Washington State’s Ballot: Doctor-Assisted Suicide http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/31/us/31death.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Prior to reading this article, I had never heard of such a thing as “doctor-assisted suicide”. The title of the article definitely was an obvious shocker, but through reading it, I was some what upset of what our world has come to.
It was eleven years ago that Oregon was proclaimed as the first state to allow physician- assisted suicide. Over the course of having past this law, about 341 people have taken there own lives with the assistance of a doctor. It has been quite a surprise to Oregon officials that not more people have taken “advantage” so to speak, in the newly stated laws. Also, it’s peculiar that no other state as begun to follow Oregon’s lead in the physician suicide laws.
To me, this law is absolutely ridiculous. People that are suicidal should not be given the assistance with their suicide attempts; instead, they should be given the help that they need through proper therapy and or medication.
But on the other hand, the story about Karen Janoch makes me feel sympathetic towards her situation. “In April 2004, Karen Janoch, terminally ill with liver cancer, took to her bed and, under Oregon’s assisted-suicide law, swallowed a lethal dose of drugs amid friends at her apartment in Eugene.”
With stories like Janoch’s, it seems that this women had little time left to live and wanted to leave in a more peaceful setting with a pain-free death. So with that being said, it hard to hear about a person, such as Janoch, and hear about them having to suffer through so much.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/nyregion/long-island/12Rhospital.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=greenwich%20hospital&st=cse&oref=slogin

As lucky as we all are to being living in such a fortunate town as Newtown, it is common that we take the littlest things for granted. Whether it be a great meal to eat every night, or a safe place to live, it’s hard to say that we all sit down and are thankful for what we are given every day. For the ones that are not as fortunate as we are, we then see how grateful we really are, and then we appreciate things that we are given.

In the New York Times, an article was written on the problems with immigrants coming into hospitals expecting treatment, for even the simpliest things, such as a cold, because of their lack of health care coverage. “For Immigrants, Checking to See if the Doctor Is In” talks about how “Greenwich Hospital, like many other hospitals in the New York area, is increasingly finding itself providing uncompensated medical care to poor, uninsured and often illegal immigrants”.

Although it would be impossible to have every hospital in the United States follow the lead of Greenwich Hospital, it really would help benefit the unfortunate people receive proper medical help. This could be our giving back to the society gift that would be the life or death end of someone.