Law in Action Essay -- State Rights, Oregon

Along with the American right to live with certain inalienable freedoms, citizens of Oregon have had the opportunity to exercise their state-given â€Å"right to die† for the previous 17 years. In response to citizen initiative, the State of Oregon passed the Death With Dignity Act (DWDA) in 1994 to allow terminally ill patients the access to a lethal dose of doctor-prescribed medication. Oregon is one of only two U.S. states with â€Å"Death With Dignity† legislation, and it has vigorously protected this act from criticism and attempted legal invalidation for years (Office of Disease Prevention and Epidemiology, n.d.). Despite vehement opposition and regular ethical questioning, DWDA has successfully allowed hundreds of gravely ill Oregon citizens to safely control the circumstances of their death. With improvements to its system of collecting patient data, its mental health evaluation requirements, and its level of doctor accountability, the law could provide this ser vice in an even more efficient and responsible way. From its official enactment in 1997, DWDA has aimed to provide qualified, terminally ill Oregon patients the opportunity to end their lives through the use of a doctor-prescribed, self-administered, lethal prescription (The Oregon Death With Dignity Act, 1994). A patient wishing to receive the prescription must be 18 years of age, a resident of Oregon, mentally competent, and diagnosed with a fatal disease that will likely lead to death within six months, and the patient must pass through a multitude of safeguards. First, a patient must make two oral requests for the medication to his or her physician 15 days apart, followed by a signed written request. Then two separate doctors evaluate the individual’s cognitive capabilit... ... peace of mind for the family, and for the legal security of the doctor, patients should undergo supervision until the time of their death, not merely until the time they receive the prescription. This final addition to DWDA would greatly increase approval within the medical community for this exceedingly debated law. Through two legal attempts to invalidate the law and years of criticism from a wide range of adversaries, DWDA has managed to provide a valuable service to over 500 ailing Oregon patients. Legislators could avoid future legal challenges and improve the safety for participating individuals by enacting and enforcing a few powerful safeguards regarding doctor accountability and patients’ mental health. Regardless, DWDA sets an unparalleled precedent in the realm of assisted suicide, and other states should strive for similar revolutionary legislation. Law in Action Essay -- State Rights, Oregon Along with the American right to live with certain inalienable freedoms, citizens of Oregon have had the opportunity to exercise their state-given â€Å"right to die† for the previous 17 years. In response to citizen initiative, the State of Oregon passed the Death With Dignity Act (DWDA) in 1994 to allow terminally ill patients the access to a lethal dose of doctor-prescribed medication. Oregon is one of only two U.S. states with â€Å"Death With Dignity† legislation, and it has vigorously protected this act from criticism and attempted legal invalidation for years (Office of Disease Prevention and Epidemiology, n.d.). Despite vehement opposition and regular ethical questioning, DWDA has successfully allowed hundreds of gravely ill Oregon citizens to safely control the circumstances of their death. With improvements to its system of collecting patient data, its mental health evaluation requirements, and its level of doctor accountability, the law could provide this ser vice in an even more efficient and responsible way. From its official enactment in 1997, DWDA has aimed to provide qualified, terminally ill Oregon patients the opportunity to end their lives through the use of a doctor-prescribed, self-administered, lethal prescription (The Oregon Death With Dignity Act, 1994). A patient wishing to receive the prescription must be 18 years of age, a resident of Oregon, mentally competent, and diagnosed with a fatal disease that will likely lead to death within six months, and the patient must pass through a multitude of safeguards. First, a patient must make two oral requests for the medication to his or her physician 15 days apart, followed by a signed written request. Then two separate doctors evaluate the individual’s cognitive capabilit... ... peace of mind for the family, and for the legal security of the doctor, patients should undergo supervision until the time of their death, not merely until the time they receive the prescription. This final addition to DWDA would greatly increase approval within the medical community for this exceedingly debated law. Through two legal attempts to invalidate the law and years of criticism from a wide range of adversaries, DWDA has managed to provide a valuable service to over 500 ailing Oregon patients. Legislators could avoid future legal challenges and improve the safety for participating individuals by enacting and enforcing a few powerful safeguards regarding doctor accountability and patients’ mental health. Regardless, DWDA sets an unparalleled precedent in the realm of assisted suicide, and other states should strive for similar revolutionary legislation.

Johnson and Johnson Executive Summary Essay

The $10,000 investment made into Johnson and Johnson is a good investment to have in your portfolio. This is because of the stable nature of Johnson and Johnson and the growth trend of the company. Based on the JNJ 10-Ks for the last 5 years ended Jan. 1, 2012, the revenue trend is growing. Revenues have trended favorably from $61,095 in the year ended Jan. 2007 to $65,030 in the year ended Jan. 1, 2012. The company is also operating efficiently showing the more stable aspect of this investment by keeping costs of goods sold at an average percent of 29.94% for the five years ended Jan. 1, 2012. The company is also well leveraged for growth. A good measure of this leverage is the Debt Ratio, which is a measure of the total liabilities of a company in proportion to the total assets. The Debt Ratio will also expose the risks in the company’s debt-load by revealing the extent of assets that are financed with debt. The debt ratio for JNJ has trended from 2.00 in the year ended Dec. 28, 2008 to 2.01 Jan. 1, 2012 with an increase in the fiscal years ended Jan 2, 2011 and Jan 3 2010 to 2.22 and 2.15, respectively. These ratios show that the company has two assets for every one dollar of a liability the company has thereby showing that the company is financially stable and able to pay the obligations it has. Johnson and Johnson is also able to generate earnings from it’s invested capital. Return on asset (ROA) is a ratio that describes what earnings are generated from invested capital and is often referred to as return on investment. From the years ended Dec. 28, 2008 through Jan 2, 2011, the company has had a consistent ROA percentage of 15.25%, 12.95%, and 12.96%, respectively. The ROA percentage decreased to 8.51% in the year ended Jan. 1, 2012 because of continued additions of assets through acquisitions that will continue to generate growth in the future. Market perception is also a valuable indicator when determining sound investments. The price to earnings ratio is a valuation of a company’s current market share price compared to its per-share earnings. Generally, a higher P/E ratio suggests that an investor can expect higher earnings growth in the future. The price to earnings ratio has increased substantially to 18.53 in the fiscal year ended Jan. 1, 2012 from the 12.75 price to earnings ratio in the year ended Jan. 2, 2011, as shown in the table below. Lastly, most financially secure and stable companies offer dividends to their stockholders. A dividend is a distribution of cash, stock, or property in a portion of a company’s earnings. The cash dividends per share have trended favorably for investors looking to have a return on their investment from $1.62 in the year ended Dec. 28, 2007 to $2.25 for the year ended Jan. 1, 2012. In summary, Johnson and Johnson is continually investing into new consumer, pharmaceutical, and medical device fields which has created a large, well diversified company that is able to stay one step ahead of its competitors thereby creating a strong stable investment option for investors.

A Strong, Democratic Stand Point, By Bernie Sanders

Through a strong, democratic stand point, Bernie Sanders has one of the strongest resolutions to immigration. Being in a family of immigrants himself, Sanders understands a lot of viewpoints from the immigrants. To solve these problems, Bernie has come up with an elaborate, six step plan. This plan covers making it easier to get a visa, making it easier to bring your family when you immigrate, and making equal and fair trade rights. This plan will be a major step towards solving the task at hand. However there are in fact some opposing, credibility issues. Bernie’s main goal is to make it easier to attain visas, and become naturalized. Senator Sanders wants to help the immigrant’s complete citizenship and visas quickly, without giving the†¦show more content†¦The base of this thriving economy is that we send enormous factories, and farms to other countries. America takes advantage of the low prices that other countries will work for. America fires their own strong workers, who want more money, for the cheap labor. In Guatemala, a little over 60% of the population is living under the poverty line, and the other 40% isn’t much over. Poverty is no joke and a tragic issue that Bernie will fight to develop in not only America, but Mexico, Central America, and China. In order to accomplish a change, laws need to be put in place that will create more fair-trade policies, and ways to make sure they are absolutely being implemented. The tremendous amount of immigrants coming to America are coming for two reasons, t o escape poverty and escape a low quality of life. When in their own country, most of the immigrants can’t afford food every day, because of something that America has done to them. This will be a major accomplishment to solve fair trade issues. An argument that goes along with fair trade issues, is the exploitation of immigrants. When immigrants come here to get a better life, the American companies that hire them, take advantage. America pays them less, and treats them unfairly. Creating a reform to keep employers from abusing their workers will help to continue a healthy flow of immigrants, and healthy working conditions. Sanders wants a safe