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 cant 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 isnt 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 wont 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 wont 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 familys 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 whats 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 patients 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, doesnt 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 thatll 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 cant 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. Whats 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 Im 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.