Sunday, October 6, 2019

Two Recent Merger and Acquisition Cases Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Two Recent Merger and Acquisition Cases - Essay Example A merger occurs when two firms integrate their skills and acumen with each other to take advantage of business opportunities or sidestep threats. Sometimes the decision to merge can be to increase size due to legal e.g. capital requirements, or to acquire efficiencies, talents or market access in a totally different but complementary field of business endeavor. In an acquisition, however, one firm is bought outright by another for a price that may be made public or disclosed to only the stakeholders and the relevant Government authorities. It is clear that both firms should get something out of the corporate deal or the effects are not long lasting. Indeed it has been noticed that many participant workers and managers are found ruing the past when things were much simpler and better- however they are forced to deal with the situation ‘as is now’ and have put in too much effort to unwind the deal again. One acquisition that took place in the healthcare industry between Se ptember-October 2010 was that of ZymoGenetics, Inc. being bought by Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) for US$885 Million. With this acquisition, BMS hoped that it would gain inroads into the fight against cancer, hepatitis C, and other diseases for which ZymoGenetics already had some research products in the pipeline.

Saturday, October 5, 2019

Young British Artists and the world Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Young British Artists and the world - Essay Example Most art forms seem to go through phases and cycles of inspiration. Sometimes, it seems that the well of inspiration is particularly dry; during other times, like the wave of rising popularity for young British artists, particularly during the early and mid 1990's Not only has contemporary British art become more popular here at home, but also abroad. This has implications not only for the artists themselves, but also for the scope of mainstream contemporary art as a whole. Additionally, the whole of British culture is affected by this latest wave of young inspiration, as well as the world's view of Great Britain and British culture.In the late 1980's, British art entered a new exciting chapter-a new wave of inspiration was borne of apathy and confusion, and the hearts and minds of a new generation and breed of artists-those who would soon become known as the YBA's, or Young British Artists.The generation known as Young British Artists (YBAs) were born between the mid-1960s and 1970s , and emerged from the art schools in the late 1980s. In these educational establishments major changes were taking place. They registered a reaction to the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who claimed that there was 'no such thing as society'. It was in this context that both teachers and students came together to consider contemporary life and culture head-on, (Nelson 2000) The beginning of this movement is most often attributed to a 1988 exhibit in London, entitled Freeze, and organized by Damien Hirst, while he was still an art student at Goldsmiths College. He would go on to become the most widely celebrated of the YBA's, but was accompanied by such artists as Tracey Emin, Cornelia Parker, Christine Borland, and Sarah Lucas, to name a few, (Tate Online Glossary) The notion of the young celebrity artist seems to be a fairly new one, with an uncanny cult-like following. The work of artists such as Tracey Emin, Damian Hirst, the Chapman brothers, and Grayson Perry had all but taken on a life of it's own in the 1990's. It can be argued that the art was essentially representative of the culture at the time, emerging simultaneously with the 'grunge' movement in music and lifestyle. Certainly it is no coincidence that the YBA movement seemed to begin at the same time that the grunge rock band Nirvana appeared on the global scene, emerging from Seattle in the United States, and making a trend of stoner nonchalance, torn jeans and flannel shirts, the epitome of 'cool'. It is not that the global grunge movement was a direct result of the artistic YBA movement in London, nor vice versa. Rather, the world seem filled at the time with a feeling of apathy for life; there were no major wars to be fought, and nothing to be won, just an ubiquitous haze of melancholy that seemed to infiltrate everything in its path. These angry youth burst onto the cultural landscape all over, forming a sort of cultural revolution, and then "screaming how fucked-up it and everything around it was," (Bracewell 2002). To be certain, "the label YBA turned out to be a powerful brand and marketing tool, but of course it concealed huge diversity. Nevertheless certain broad trends both formal an d thematic can be discerned. Formally, the era is marked by a complete openness towards the materials and processes with which art can be made and the form that it can take," (Tate Online Glossary). In theory and in practice, the YBA was essentially raging aganst life in general. The YBA movement, like the grunge rock movement in the United States, began as a socialist, anti-corporate, anti-establishment movement, rallying against invisible oppression, and finding common ground in the assertion and expression of the artist's idea of self. For them, depression, alcoholism, and poverty were a reality to be shared with the world at large. Tracey Emin, who is described as "one of the most prominent members of

Friday, October 4, 2019

Purpose Of The Academic Community Essay Example for Free

Purpose Of The Academic Community Essay The continuous and dynamic research in the academic community provides an avenue for development and growth not only for the institution but also for the students and instructors as well. Due to the rapid changes happening in the world and the increasing effects of globalization, the academic community must also make a firm stand in addressing these changes to create continuity and stability. The main importance of doing research in the academe is creating new literature that paves the way for new knowledge. Through the years, there are emerging new issues that need to be addressed. Doing research can be vital in contributing to the study or field. Research is vitally important especially in the academic community due to the fields overall tendencies to continually change and evolve. Having appropriate foundation in conducting research can help academic institutions cope with the standards of education that will foster a better modes and mechanisms for teaching students. A fully research equipped academic institution can have many benefits that can spill to (1) students, (2) instructors and (3) the community. With the evolution of research, it can foster an environment for better facilitators and instructors. â€Å"Increased ability to attract highly qualified and motivated members of staff (both nationally and internationally)† (Aceto, 2005, p.2) In addition, increased research can also create a positive domino effect first with the school/university, instructors, the students and the community. In the end, conducting research in the academic community produces positive effects with the actors involved. Thus, there is a need to â€Å"strengthen the commitment to research-based teaching and post graduate education.† (Aceto, 2005, p.7) The challenge for educators and the academic community is maintaining sustainable measures and funding that will ensure the continuous development of such endeavor. This is an important determinant for success. References Aceto, L. (2005) The Importance of Research for a Modern University. [on-line] Retrieved November 8, 2007 from http://www.cs.aau.dk/~luca/SLIDES/importance-of-research.pdf

Thursday, October 3, 2019

Techno Structural Interventions

Techno Structural Interventions Employees involvement is one of the major issues in the field of management sciences; it becomes relatively more important when appears in organization development process. While going for some interventions, success without the employees involvement seems to be impossible. This paper argues that how the employees involvement affect the success of interventions process. For this Empirical study has been conducted in the textile sector of Pakistan to explore the relationship between the employees involvement and the techno-structural interventions, the results are very much likely the literature. Change tries to alter the employees status quo; if it occurs rapidly it can be very disturbing for all the stake holders of the organization (DaphneÂÂ  G.ÂÂ  Taras, JamesÂÂ  T.ÂÂ  Bennett, 2007) as the employees are the direct victims of the change thats why they feel more economic insecurity in the work place. Change can be of various types and can raise the fear in the employees, doest not matter; it has good or bad impact on the employees (ADF Price, K chahl, 2006) but on the whole change always come in the organization for the development purposes (Rikard Athin, 2004). Organization development is controlled process in which sequence of actions, activities intended to improve the organizational performance and effectiveness (Thomas G cummings; Christopher G whorley, 2002).These set of sequenced planned changes for improvement of organizational performance and development are called interventions (cummings; whorley, 1993). Interventions will only work for the or ganization if they are relevant with the organization (Chris Argyris, 1970). These interventions design varies from organizational needs and can be divided into different types of interventions (D. Coghlan 1995). At the highest level in the organization, there are strategic level interventions, which are designed to form the organization structure for achieving its objectives affectively (R. Draft 1998). The other one is the techno-structural intervention, having purpose is to form appropriate work designs and organizational structures to provide the strategic support of the organization development (E lawler III, 1974). The third component of the intervention is the people oriented interventions which focus on the fulfillment of human needs in the organization as well as the expectations of the organizational effectiveness (Frank Friedlander; LD Brown, 1974). Our main focus in this research is in techno-structural intervention, which deals with the restructuring of the organization; the restructuring is in the division of workload of overall organization in to subunits for completion of the task effectively (M Tushman, E Romanelli, 1986). Restructuring can be performed on at least five major factors, environment, organization size, technology, organization strategy and world wide operation (Thomas G cummings; Christopher G whorley, 2002). Second other major component of techno structural intervention is the employees involvement, D Glew, et al 1995 defined the employees involvement on the basis of power, information, knowledge and skills and finally reward. Final component of intervention is work design , broadly speaking work design is of two types, one is of scientific management (F. Taylor, 1911) which is task oriented, the other type of work design is motivational approach (G Susman, 1976). Muhammad Imran Muhammad Mahmood Aslam In literature, F. Herzberg, N. Mausner, B snyderman 1959, describes the work design having the opportunities for autonomy, move forwarding, responsibility and authority gives more satisfaction to the employees and increase the employees involvement. Enrichment of the job of the employees leads to the employees satisfaction as well as to the acceptance of the change (F. Hertz berg, 1974). Employees involvement plays an important role in the success or failure of the organization. Our research in this context revolves around the relationship between the employees involvement and its effect on the techno structural interventions. In this exploratory research we will describe the relationship which exists in the employees involvement and techno-structural interventions. Methodology We have used the data from three different sources i.e. Literature, Survey using questionnaire and unstructured interviews. The literature based on the interventions; which includes the previous research on the interventions as well as the case studies from national as well as from international journals have been used to provide theoretical ground to our hypothesis. Beside this, for empirical study we have selected the textile industry of Pakistan, in which changes are imminent on radically basis (Yim Yu Wong, Peng S. Chan 1993). In textile industry of Pakistan, we have selected the five readily available organizations from which we get the sample of 150 respondents by using the simple random sampling method. All the respondents were middle level managers having minimum 10-15 years of experience in the apparel industry. Beside this in our respondents are the top level management, for them we use the interviews for collecting the data. Analysis of both quantitative and qualitative da ta has been performed in our research. Scope As the Economic recession all over the world has affect the industry all over the world, but in all these circumstances under developed countries suffer more with this phenomenon (Nick Beams 2001 ). In case of Pakistani, where the major export portion is based on the apparel industry this phenomenon become more critical (Frank P. Saladis PMP, 2007) resultantly, decreasing in export give rise the manager to bring some intervention in this sector at top management level, a number of decision has been taken to bring change but the success ratio of these are very low (Areeba Khan 2001) our research in this context will bring the revolutionary change it will give the manager a new direction that how the successfully interventions can be made by involving the employees. Our study setting is contrived in which we have the minimal interference in this study so, the external validity of our study will be very high and it will provide a great support to the industry. Limitations The intervention process or any change process is not an event of day; it took from months to the year (Stuart Gilmour, et al 2006). As our study is cross sectional study in which we have gather the data in the same span of time so we can just analyze the past that in the past what are the impact made by the employees involvement in the intervention. However we can give recommendations for the future. Another thing which limit our study is that though we have selective the respondent with the random sampling methodology; however the organizations for the study are those which are readily available to us. Literature Review Changes must be preceded systematically (GuangmingÂÂ  Cao, et al 2004). The success ratio for the change increase greatly, when we use the proper model of planned change (YitzhakÂÂ  Samuel, et al 2004). In spite of all the planning and development change never successfully happened and mostly the reason behind this failure is resistance (JamesÂÂ  L.ÂÂ  Vann, 2004). To overcome the resistance and for the success of change several factors can influence, these can be management involvement and support, employees participation, information sharing and the most important is leadership (Jean E. Neumann, et al 1999). The sequenced, planned, organized and managed from the top changes are called the interventions (Beckhard 1961). While designing intervention, concept of Effective intervention has much importance which describes that effective intervention is providing the free and informed choice to the employees by the organization (C Argyris, 1970). Widely, research has been done that how to design intervention and how to make them effective to achieve the organization objective effectively (D. Warrick 1995). While designing some interventions, individual differences (skills, knowledge, need for autonomy, etc), organization factors (management structure, Employees, culture etc) and dimension of change process (management support, employees involvement, power etc) must be considered (J Porras, et al 1987).While going for interventions in the organization, four major options are available that are strategic interventions, Techno-structural Human Process and Human Resource Management intervention (Thomas G. Cummings, et al 2001 ). Strategic intervention is of broader term describes the corporate as well as business level strategic intervention like cultural change, strategic change, self design organization, and integrate strategic management (P. Evans, et al 1997). In human process, the interventions deals with the social issues which occurs among the organization members like communication gap, individual differences, conflicts and team issues (D. Ancona, et al 1992). Thirdly, the human resource management interventions, aim is to goal setting, Performance management, reward systems, career planning and development and managing work force diversity (D. McDonald, et al 1995). Techno-structural intervention is another type of the organizational intervention which mainly deals with the issues like business process reengineering, total quality management, Quality circles and work design (M. Tushman, et al 1985). Techno-structural interventions have two important components which are technological interventions and the structural interventions (J. Galbraith, R. Kazanjian 1986). Technological interventions involve introduction of new technology in the organization like in organization changes made from the manual to computerized, or to implement som e enterprise system (A. Chandler 1962). While in case of structural intervention it deals with the changing in organization structure, work design so that the organization may able to achieve the organization objective more effectively (G. Hamel, C. Prahalad 1994). In textile sector of Pakistan several techno-structural interventions have been made but the success ratios of these intervention is very low and still Pakistan is far behind than the rest of the world (Noor Ahmad Memon, Noor Zaman 2007). There are a number of reasons behind to discuss all these failure in the industry, but the most important of it is the lack of employees involvement in the intervention process which lead to this failure (S.A.J Shirazi 2007). Some researcher has defined the employees involvement on the basis of Participation in the change process and the profit sharing with the employees (Susan Schwochau 1997). Employees Involvement can be defined as on the basis of Power, information sharing, Knowledge skills and finally Reward (Thomas G cummings; Christopher G whorley, 2002). In our research we have used all the four variables which we have further sub divide into sub variables to measure this abstract into concept. Theoretical Framework Employees Involvement in relation with the Techno-structural Intervention Employees Involvement is independent variable and having sub variables are power, information sharing, knowledge and skills, while on the other hand techno-structural intervention is dependent variable. In our research we have studied the empirical relationship between the employees involvement and techno-structural intervention. Our scope of study is limited up to the textile industry of Pakistan in which we have selected the five readily available organizations. Power Information Sharing Knowledge and Skills Reward Employees Involvement Techno-structural Intervention Independent Variable Dependent Variable Figure-1: Employees Involvement in Relation with the Techno-structural interventions. In five organizations, we go through the study of 150 participants who are all the middle level managers. For data collection we further classified all these four variables into its indicators. Power is being defined as the decision making authority given by the employer to the employees up to their levels (D. Glew, et al 1995). The other indicators which we used in our research in order to find the indicators of power are management support and autonomy which gives the employees confidence and increase their participation in the intervention process (E. Lawler III 1986). The second indicator of the employees involvement is the information sharing which also encourage the employees to participate in the change process (SusanÂÂ  Schwochau, et al 2007). The information can be strategic information of the organization which deals with the organization vision, mission and objectives as well as the financial information which indicate the financial gains or loss by the organization, it also give raise to the trust between the employees and employers as well (David E. Morgan, Rachid Zeffane 2003). The third indicator of the employees involvement is the employees knowledge and skills which focuses on the Training and development of the employees regarding the interventions (D. Roche, et al 1984). Employees involvement can also be made affective by giving them assignment which are challenging and relevant to the change of the organization (K. Broosseau 1983), beside this overall technique of knowledge management and transfer of learning can be made appli cable to enhance the positive participation of the employees (R. Ruggles 1998). Finally, Reward systems of the organization also affect the intervention process in the organizations. While going for intervention, the organization have pay plans like skill based pay plans in which employees are being rewarded according to the skills they owned (V. Gibson 1995). Performance based pay plans and performance based incentive is also in voyage in modern management practices to encourage the employees to work for the change (Z Schiller 1996). After the successful intervention, Employees should be get participated in the profit which the organization actually make by the implementation of intervention, this will encourage other employees to be the part of the intervention in the future (J Belcher 1994). If the organization dont go for the direct financial benefits, than other measures like promotion can be a source of encouragement to the employees. In this way, we have developed all these variables to measure the employees involvement in the process of Techno-structural interventions. Power Decision making Authority Autonomy Management Support Information Sharing Strategic Information Financial Information Future Plans Procedures and Results Knowledge and Skills Training development Challenging Assignment Developing Skills Knowledge Management Reward Skill based plans Performance based plans Gain Sharing Promotion Employees Involvement Figure 2 Variables effecting the employees involvement Data Gathering For getting the data for our research, we developed several questionnaires in which we measure all these four variables that are power, information sharing, knowledge and skills. In questionnaire technique, all questionnaires consists of approximately 15-20 questions in which we have measured all these four variables to measure the employees involvement while techno-structural intervention has been measured by the indirect questions by asking about the work design, changing in technology and adoptability of the employees with the interventions. Analysis of Data Analysis of Data is being performed by the SPSS (statistical package for social sciences) and in which by using the regression model we analyze our findings. We used the regression analysis model for finding the empirical relationship between the employees involvement and the techno-structural interventions in the organization. This model indicates that there is positive relationship exists between the employees involvement and techno-structural interventions. If the employees involvement is greater than the employees will perform better and go for the success of the intervention, in case if the organization is not given the employees the right to involve in decision making and employees dont find enough autonomy than employees not only will resist the change but also the success ratio of the intervention will also reduced. In context with the regression analysis performs above this indicate that model is quite significant, as the value of significance is less than .05. The significance value is actually the p-value which in statistics predicts that how much reliable is your model to predict the independent variable. On the basis of the data we gather by using the likert scale, from the observation as well as from executives interviews, we well come to know that there exist a strong relationship between the employees involvement as well as in the success of the techno-structural interventions, we have also proved this by using the SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) where we use the regression analysis to find the correlation in between our variables. As the data is collected from the field so the externally it does not give the exact result which we expect from the study but it shows the positive relationship and model is quite significant, in spite of field study. Another reason which can also be one of the factor that it is not showing the optimum relation is the culture of Pakistan, in which most of the time employees hesitate to take the responsibility and very few go for the intervention process and want to take the responsibility another thing which we study during this empirica l study is the attitude of executives who dont want to share the information with the employees due to broken of secrecy problem they never ever trust in their employees either they are the bottom line managers or middle level managers, our study in this circumstances is just limited up to the executives and middle management as the low level managers and workers are not directly victim of the change process, they actually take the commands from the top and middle level management and act like that, in Pakistan it is more about the culture rather than the rules and regulations or policies of the company. Conclusion Recommendations Based on the data, and the calculations shown above, it has been proved that techno-structural intervention is greatly impacted by the employees involvement, if the employees found the chance to participate in the change process, than they better performed as compared to those who dont have a chance to give their views about the intervention process. So, it is better to get the participation of the employees which should be in positive manner this will enhance the confidence of the employees towards the intervention process and self responsibility of the employees will lead to the success of the intervention. In Textile Sector, as in case of Pakistan, Employees involvement can be increased by giving the employees proper participation as well as providing the opportunity to the employees so that they can get the responsibility by their own self. The all four variables which have been discussed here must be kept in mind in order to prepare the employees for the Techno-structural intervention. One of the major problems which we really face while getting the data about the employees involvement is the organization structure which is highly autocratic. At the top level, Management dont wanted from the employees side to listen any thing they just wanted to pass the orders rather than to make the decisions by the consensus of the employees. But on one way around though some employees are also enough satisfied with this culture of the organization but in real sense the employees creativity element will all shutter down, resultantly they unable to produce that thing which actually they can. Summin g up, our discussion as that as the competition is in the market is increasing, new and radical changes are being occurring in the organizations. Those organizations who get prepared their employees to accept the changes got success while other who unable to got accept the changes fail badly and one of the major reasons they have that their human resource dont accept the change made by the employer in some technical work or some structural design, resultantly it fails down.

Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Psychedelic Yoga :: essays research papers

The following article originally appeared as an uncopyrighted set of mimeographed sheets sometime during the late 1960’s, which was freely distributed on a limited basis, probably in San Francisco.   Psychedelic Yoga    The Application of Yoga Meditation Techniques to the Use of Psychedelic Sacraments    By Sri Brahmarishi Narad       The fact that psychedelic drugs induce a greater sensitivity to subtle spiritual and psychic energies, and speed up the influx of impressions from deeper levels of consciousness, raises the immediate question of how these energies can be properly understood and handled. Obviously, if these energies are not guided, they can do more harm than good. The application of traditional Yoga meditation techniques while under psychedelic experiences, can provide a constructive solution to this problem. According to Yoga philosophy, the most spiritual and powerful aspect of man's nature is the faculty of attention or consciousness. The most fundamental aspect of man's free will is the choice as to what he allows his attention to dwell upon. The attention always has to be on something, but we can choose what we allow it to dwell upon. The goal of all Yoga practices is to discover and directly experience what the attention or faculty of consciousness in man is. The yogi seeks to know that principle by which all else is known. Observing the observer or placing the attention on the attention itself achieves this goal. This may at first seem very abstract and hard to grasp in terms of practical application; but there are workable, time-proven methods for achieving this state of pure consciousness, which when consistently applied and practiced are bound to yield results. It should be constantly remembered during a psychedelic session that whatever perceptions, thoughts and even hallucinations occur -- they are all the creations of one's own mind and consciousness, and are filtered through one's own instrument of perception. These perceptions are patterns of our own psychic energy. We give energy to whatever thoughts and feelings we allow the attention to dwell upon. Wherever the power of attention is focused, it generates mental and emotional energy in the form of its own lower overtones, thus feeding and energizing the thoughts and emotions that the attention dwells upon. It becomes clear that the key to remaining in control of a psychedelic experience is in controlling the flow of attention. Distracting experiences can be avoided in the first place, and the flow of attention can be properly directed by the use of Raja Yoga techniques of meditation.

The Character of Hareton in Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte Essay

The Character of Hareton in Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte Wuthering Heights, written by Emile Bronte, is on of the most famous Victorian novels in English literature. This novel was the only novel written by her. The novel has the social and moral values in England in the nineteenth century as the recurring theme. The adjective ‘wuthering’ is used in some parts of rural England to describe stormy weather. Wuthering Heights is a farmhouse on top of a small hillock, which is open to all the elements of wind and weather and hence is synonymous with passion and violence. The other house nearby, Thrushcross Grange contrasts sharply with Wuthering Heights. The two groups of people residing here, the Earnshaws in the former and the Lintons in the latter, are also people with opposing tendencies. Into this world comes a man alien to both extremes, Heathcliff who is adopted by the Earnshaws. The whole story revolves around these characters. Hareton Earnshaw, son of Frances and Hindley Earnshaw has a small but important part in the novel. Belonging to the second generation of characters, he personifies the passionate nature of the Earnshaws and yet is warm and gentle. Hareton is of a warm and, considering his situation, a very genial disposition. He owns his own share of the wild passions that are so common to the Earnshaws, but is forced into a life of subjugation. He is quite intelligent, but is made to lead a life of an ignorant by Heathcliff, who after Hindley’s death denied him any further education. Hareton as a child is wild and unruly, having a mouthful of foul words. Hareton as young man is still very rough, though subdued ... ...riendship with Cathy grows into a strong and mutual love culminating in a marriage. His love for Cathy is also, like him, pure and innocent. He transforms, from a shabbily clad ignoramus to a respectably dressed gentleman. We do not see any of the common Victorian hypocrisy in his nature. His good character and genial temperament makes him one of the best characters in the novel. Hareton’s presence cannot be felt throughout the novel, but he effectually completes the story. He can be compared to a rough, unpolished diamond whose shine was not so well perceivable until another genial soul unearthed it from the mines of ignorance. He is a shining example of the fact that no matter where the circumstances of one’s life leads to, they will, sooner or later fall upon the track of life on which they are supposed to be.

Tuesday, October 1, 2019

The Euthanasia Debate

Euthanasia is the practice of voluntarily ending a life to relieve pain and suffering (Euthanasia. com/definitions). The act of euthanasia differs from the act of murder in that the person who will die makes the decision to end their life. In the case of murder, the person does not wish to end their life, but anther person intervenes to bring about their death against their wishes. Euthanasia is categorized as active and passive (Euthanasia. com/definitions). Passive euthanasia means failure to provide life prolonging medical treatment and letting a disease take its natural course without intervention. Active euthanasia means to take measures to end a person’s life (Euthanasia. com/definitions). When the topic of euthanasia is discussed, active euthanasia is typically to what is being referred to. The debate over whether euthanasia, particularly physician assisted suicide, is acceptable is a debate of global concern. Both sides of this debate have clearly defined positions. One side feels that assisted suicide is a form of mercy killing, and under certain conditions patients have a right to assisted suicide if it is their wish. However, others clearly oppose euthanasia, claiming that regardless of the circumstances, to end someone’s life early is wrong. The following will explore both sides of the euthanasia debate. Proponents The Netherlands and Switzerland were the first countries to legalize assisted suicide for those that were suffering from a painful or deadly disease (Pollard). The issue is hotly debated, and jurisdictions around the world switch back and forth continually on the issue. On the pro side of euthanasia, it is recognized as a right of the terminally ill in order to end their suffering. It is considered to be a basic human right to die with dignity (Maisie). Proponents of the right to euthanasia propose that the right to die is a natural extension of a person’s right to make their own decisions on any other topic regarding their (Maisie). The concept that a person has a right to decide whether their life has value to them or not is considered to be a basic human right (Maisie). The right to take one’s own life by suicide is considered to be unacceptable in many cultures, therefore it is looked down upon as culturally unacceptable. However, suicide differs from euthanasia in that a person does not have a condition that would shorten their life, or place them in unbearable pain that is not expected to cease (Euthanasia. com/reasonsforeuthansia). People who commit suicide would have hope for a better quality life if they receive help (St. Clair, 2009). Those who consider euthanasia are exercising their right to end their own suffering. Doctors are at the center of the euthanasia debate. They are in a position where they have an oath to do no harm. Preserving a life of suffering against the wishes of the patient, or ending that life can both be considered doing harm (St. Clair, 2009). Patients have the right to refuse any medical treatment that is against their wishes (Maisie). It is considered to be contradictory to disallow them the ability to end their life in order to end suffering (Maisie). Many of those who support euthanasia do so on the basis of preserving human rights and dignity. Opponents However, those that oppose the right to die do so based on fears that it might be abused, and become a form of legalized murder (Maise). Concerns arise over legal heirs who might promote euthanasia for financial gain, or perhaps doctors who would hasten a death in order to receive an organ transplant (Maise). Opponents bring up many scenarios that would make the bioethics surround the issue even more difficult to resolve. For instance, would a mental illness be considered sufficient emotional pain to justify euthanasia, or would the person be considered to be incapable of making a rational decision in this regard (Hershey)? There are many such issues that weigh into the decision of whether to consider euthanasia to be a reasonable course of action. How to assess whether a person is actually competent to make their own decision when they are under the influence of heavy pain medication is another issue in the euthanasia debate (Hershey). The arguments by both proponents and opponents are largely hypothetical. The circumstances of each case make it difficult to generalize and create effective policy regarding the issue. Both sides have valid points. The arguments of both proponents and opponents are supported by hypothetical situations and scenarios that have come into existence. This makes the issues surrounding the development of uniform legal and moral policies about euthanasia so difficult because of the many different circumstances. The issues surrounding euthanasia are highly emotional and highly personal. In conclusion, the central debate that is at the heart of the euthanasia issue can be reduced to that of human rights. If the person decides to end their life and they have no hope of recovery, then the question shifts from care to whether or not they have a right to end their own life. They have a right to make other medical decisions about their own care, and they have the right to determine if they wish to be resuscitated if they should go into cardiac arrest (Patients Rights Council). They can make a living will and determine if they wish to have life-saving or even life-preserving measures should they become brain dead (Patients Rights Coucil). However, the issues regarding assisted euthanasia are complex and both sides viciously defend their position.