How Eastenders dealt with Euthanasia.

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How Eastenders dealt with Euthanasia.

  Soap operas deal with moral and religious issues nearly every other week from abortion to murder.

Eastenders is just one of many tackling these issues, during 2000 – 2001 Eastenders dealt with issues surrounding the death of Ethel Skinner.

 Euthanasia is a world wide controversy, making headlining news, whether euthanasia should become legal or not as many terminally ill cancer sufferers wish to have the choose to die with dignity not in pain, Up to now no one has legally achieved this in the UK.

In Ethel’s case she was suffering from a brain tumour and had not long to live and knew that before long she would lose her mental powers, consequential by resulting in memory loss, which frightened her.

  So she decides to put aside her morphine tablets and when the time was right she would take them all at once, One of her closest friends Dot, realised what she’s doing and takes the medication off her. But Ethel explained to Dot that she wanted to die when she’s at her happiest but she could not do it alone and that Dot must help her, At first Dot says it is out of the question but after they have a good night at the Vic, Dot decides that she will help her in her suicide by giving Ethel her Morphine tablets, This results in Ethel passing away during the night.

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  After Dot becomes guilt ridden, believing that she has gone against her religion and betrayed god and deserved to be punished.

 In conversations that followed Ethel’s death, we get insights into various arguments for and against euthanasia. Dot expresses the view that life is sacred, special to God, a gift from God, which is referred to as ‘the sanctity of life’. Only He has the right to take it, she also finds verses in the Bible, which suggests that she deserves punishment from God as he has the right to take life.

  Dot decides that the best ...

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