SPEECH OUTLINE
(Persuasive Speech)
Title
: Euthanasia: To live and let die.
Specific purpose
: To persuade my audience that euthanasia should be legalized in Malaysia.
Central idea
: Euthanasia is about giving people the right to choose how they want to
live and die, saves money in medical bills, and it also stops the person
from having a bad quality of life.
I.
INTRODUCTION
A. Attention getter :
Imagine yourself being unable to walk, unable to see, and can barely breathe let alone
speak. Your life was well lived all those years before. You are in such unbearable pain
that you can’t even cry. Although your family is there for your every step of the way you
begin to think, could ending your life be the answer to the pain? You are in more pain
than you can bear. There is no way that you could function without assistance. You think
and feel as if your life has no meaning. Well in all reality this isn’t something anyone
needs to imagine. This is a real situation for many, many people. These people should be
able to make their own choices and have control of their own lives.
B. Background information of the topic:
Euthanasia is a term still new to many of us. It is a Greek term meaning ‘good death’. It
means self imposed death in a relatively painless and merciful way. Euthanasia is
categorized in different ways, which include voluntary, non-voluntary, or involuntary and
active or passive. Euthanasia is usually used to refer to active euthanasia, and in this
sense, euthanasia is usually considered to be criminal homicide, but voluntary, passive
euthanasia is widely non-criminal.
C. Preview of the speech (central idea): Now let's take a look at the reasons on why
euthanasia should be legalized. Euthanasia is about giving people the right to choose how
they want to live and die, saves money in medical bills, and it also stops the person from
having a bad quality of life.
Transition to body of speech :
II.
BODY
A. Main-point 1: Everyone has the right to choose how they want to live and die.
i. Supporting details:
First of all, deciding if you want to be alive or not is a personal decision. Neither the
doctors nor the government has the power to decide if you should live or not. Since it is
not their life and they are not in your situation, they cannot make that kind of decision
for you. It might sound like suicide, but again, that is our problem, not theirs. They give
us the liberty to decide our job, our family, our religion, and even our sex preference.
Why should they not give us the right to decide if we want to live or not? That should
be the first right before all the ones I have mentioned. It is not logical that we can
choose in all those other decisions if we cannot first choose to live or die.
ii.Supporting details:
It has been argued that for people on life support systems and people with long standing
diseases causing much pain and distress, euthanasia is a better choice. It helps in
relieving them from pain and misery. In cases like terminal cancers when the patient is
in much pain and when people associated with them also are put through a lot of pain
and misery, it is much more practical and humane to grant the person his/her wish to
end his/her own life in a relatively painless and merciful way.
- Here, I would show a picture.
iii. Supporting details:
Everyone has the right to choose how they want to live and die. Their decisions lie with
them and people hold their own key to life. No one else can decide for you how you
live, therefore choices are also made by one, and hence, if one wants to go for
euthanasia, it should be granted. He definitely has reasons why he wants to leave the
world.
Transition to Main Point 2 :
B. Main-point 2 : Euthanasia saves money in medical bills
i. Supporting details
Next, comes the economic factor. Many times we do not have enough money to pay for
the needed medical care not knowing if the patient is going to get any better. In a way,
we are just spending time and money on a situation that won’t get better. Imagine, they
are in great suffer and we are paying to make it longer. So if the patient wants
euthanasia, why not do it if we cannot end the huge amount of money wasted on a
treatment that won’t help, but worsen it instead.
ii. Supporting details
For those who are terminally ill, they do not want to be an emotional and financial
burden to their relatives, therefore without their existence; they would be lightening
their family’s burdens. Initially it may be unfair to their families but in the long run,
their decision to give up on life would help their families greatly. Their families would
then not be burdened by the hefty medical bills and the emotional strain of care giving.
-
Here, I would stop to show another picture of a person to my audience with a short
explanation.
iii. Supporting details
Due to financial short comings, some patient cannot afford to pay those expensive
hospital bills and thus, view mercy-killing as their last resort. Why pay for medical care
when you know your condition is not going to get better anyway?
Transition to Main Point 3 :
C. Main-point 3: Euthanasia stops the person from having a bad quality of life.
i. Supporting details
The basic reason why euthanasia should be practiced is because it stops the person from
having a bad quality of life. Having a patient suffering is not giving him a better quality
of life. When doctors reach this point, then they should be allowed to grant the patient
whatever he wants since he or she cannot offer something better. Even if they could
offer the patient any kind of treatment or options, it is the patient who should decide
how he wants to live his life. We pay the doctor so he can do the best he can. Helping
us in having a better quality of life is about giving the patient what’s best for him as
long as he wants it. The kind of quality of life is defined by the patient, not the doctor
or government. Consequently, when the patient feels he is not getting the quality of life
he wants, the least a doctor can do is grant him what he wants. If the patient’s decision
is to die, so be it.
-
I will be showing another picture of Ramon Sampedro to give a clearer picture
about my point to my audience.
ii. Supporting details
Euthanasia is perceived by other people as the answer to their want of a quality life.
Spending the rest of your life on a hospital bed, unable to walk, and unable to do the
things you normally do, doesn’t define a good quality of life. After all, it is the patient
who got to decide how he or she wants to live his life. Euthanasia or physician-assisted
suicide is the best thing a doctor can offer to a dying patient since he or she cannot offer
a patient something that’ll make his condition better.
Transition to conclusion
III.
CONCLUSION
A. Summary of main points:
How can say that your life is not worth living anymore? No one but you can decide on
this matter. Life and death is a personal decision. Your family, friends, the doctors, and
even the government can’t help you decide. Death is a final decision, a final destination.
Euthanasia is necessary to be legalized. Think about it, euthanasia is about giving people
the right to choose how they want to live and die, saves money in medical bills, and it
also stops the person from having a bad quality of life.
B. Memorable final statement/Call for action
If I were diagnosed with a terminal illness, incurable disease, or faced an accident that
requires me to stay in a hospital bed for the rest of my life, or only a machine can keep
me alive, I would definitely turn to euthanasia. What’s the sense of living my life
anyway? Why not end the suffering, if I have the power? Why would I prefer to be a
burden to my family? If I’m not living the quality of life I want, the best thing the doctor
can do me is to grant my final wish of dying with dignity.