Critical Thinking Final
Appendix D
Critical Analysis Forms
Fill out one form for each source.
Source 1 Title and Citation: Physician-Assisted Suicide Should Not Be Legalized Problems of Death. Ed. James D. Torr and Laura K. Egendorf. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2000
1 Identify the principal issue presented by the source. There is no need to legalize Physician-Assisted Suicide when depression can be helped with medication and if you legalize it you may never be able to control when it’s too early to OK it.
2 Identify any examples of bias presented by the author. If none exist, explain how you determined this. Almost the entire argument was based on the initial or “early” reaction of patients who had found out that they were seriously or terminally ill.
States it is only depression and “uncertainties of life” that makes them want to die rather than live.
States “researchers have found it is the only factor that predicts the desire for death.” Both vague and bias..
3 Identify any areas that are vague or ambiguous. If none exist, explain how you determined this. “Nearly 95 percent of those who kill themselves have a psychiatric illness diagnosable in the months before suicide.” How many months? What is the source? What is the illness?
“Patients who desire and early death during a serious or terminal illness” When is an “early death”? Who determines this?
“Physicians under treat even the most severe states of pain based on inappropriate fears of heavy sedation.” Who decided whether the pain is under treated? What is heavy sedation to a terminally ill patient?
4 Do you find the source credible? Explain your reasoning. No, the source was American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. They obviously had an agenda and were bias in the writing of the article.
5 Identify and name any rhetorical devices used by the author. If none exist, explain how you...
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