Outlines of text 1 and 2

The first part of your exam question asks you to give an account of the issue of assisted suicide as it is presented in Text 1 and Text 2. Text 1 presents the case of a man with locked-in syndrome, who argues that ending his life through assisted suicide should be respected as a basic human right. Text 2 argues that no matter how ill one is, people have no right to choose their time of death and destroy the almost sacred bond between a patient and a doctor.

“Tony Nicklinson: “Perhaps I’ll say goodbye on Twitter””

Text 1, “Tony Nicklinson: “Perhaps I’ll say goodbye on Twitter””, was published in 2012 on the website of British newspaper The Independent and it was written by Nina Lakhani, who is both a journalist and a former nurse.

The article presents the case of a man, Tony Nicklinson, who has locked-in syndrome and who wishes to die through assisted suicide. According to Nicklinson, his decision should be seen as a basic human right: “Mr Nicklinson, 58, who has been able to move only his eyelids since suffering a catastrophic stroke in 2005, last night told The Independent that being able to choose when to die was his most fundamental human right.” (p. 2, ll. 13-18)

The author of the article presents the way in which the law has prevented, so far, the man from obtaining a permit to be assisted in his suicide. The interesting thing is the law actually seems to agree with his desire:

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“Do any of us, however ill, have the right to die?”

Text 2, “Do any of us, however ill, have the right to die?”, was published in 2012 on the website of the British newspaper The Telegraph and was written by columnist Allison Pearson.

The author of Text 2 argues that nobody, no matter how ill, has the right to decide when to end one’s life.

The article also focuses on the same case presented in Text 1, that of Tony Nicklinson. The text begins quite dramatically, by showing Nicklinson’s regret of being alive in such a condition:

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