Running head: Physician-Assisted Suicide; Genre Analysis

Physician Assisted Suicide; Genre Analysis of a Blog and Newspaper Article.

Ana Gastelum
University of Texas at El Paso
Professor Stone
Rhetorical &Composition 2

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Abstract

Physician-assisted suicide is a topic that presently concerns many citizens in the United
States. Physician-assisted suicide consists of providing the patient with the necessary tools, like
medication, specialized machines, or just the appropriate information administered by the
physician in order to allow the patient to voluntarily end his/her own life. The approval of this
method of healing pain and suffering, has been debated by the U.S. community in different
occasions, and it recently became a popular topic for the controversy over whether using this
method is ethical or not. Many groups of people all over the United States are protesting in order
to gain the right to die. Vandana Apte, in her newspaper article The Case For Legalizing
Physician-Assisted Suicide, published in The Daily Targum talks about the different
perspectives of using physician-assisted suicide as a solution for complicated medical issues.
James Salwitz, in his blog post titled The Right to Die: The Suicide Checklist, published in
The Health Care Blog, also approaches the topic of physician-assisted suicide. The purpose of
this analysis is to contemplate the different methods used by the authors in order to create a
strong text.
Audience and Purpose
Vandana Apte targets a mature audience who might not know the difference between
euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide since the article, The Case For Legalizing PhysicianAssisted Suicide, covers some of the differences between these two procedures. This article
from The Daily Targum is written for college level readers considering that it consists of formal
vocabulary. The purpose of this newspaper article is to inform, as it provides facts about
physician-assisted suicide. For example, Apte (2015) informs that in the states of Vermont,
Washington, Oregon, Montana and New Mexico the use of physician-assisted suicide is an

Physician-Assisted Suicide: Genre Analysis

option for patients who are in a critical medical condition. This article can also be considered
persuasive since Apte constantly advocates in favor of legalizing physician-assisted suicide by
giving her point of view on the topic and picturing physician-assisted suicide as a good method
for ending a persons suffering: What people, like myself, are advocating for is the right to
suicide. In my opinion, the true value of life does not lie in the length of an individuals physical
existence rather, it lies in the quality of that existence (Apte, 2015). This is one of the
arguments that Apte uses in order to persuade the audience to believe physician-assisted suicide
should be considered good. Apte shares with readers that she voted in favor of legalizing
physician-assisted suicide in 2012. In order to acquire a complete understanding of the article,
the reader should know some basic information about the controversy of physician-assisted
suicide, as well as an understanding of how this procedure is implemented on patients. The
information that the readers expect to gain from this article is knowledge of the places where
physician-assisted suicide became legal and the opinions of others on this topic.
In comparison to the newspaper article, the blog post created by James Salwitz, does not
utilize the same techniques to approach the topic. However, one similarity that both genres share
is that both authors use formal vocabulary. Both texts are also meant to a mature audience who is
able to understand content that requires a higher reading level. This text can be considered a high
level reading since it contains metaphors that a younger audience is not likely to understand. For
example, Salwitz in his blog post compares a passport for dying with a Suicide Certificate.
The purpose of this metaphor and the text as a whole is to entertain since it is written in an ironic
tone and ridicules the topic of physician-assisted suicide. This article tries to make the audience
picture a possible future scenario that could happen if physician-assisted suicide is legalized. In
order to understand this post, the audience needs to know what are the vital documents that are

Physician-Assisted Suicide: Genre Analysis

part of peoples lives like birth certificates, wills, and others. The audience also needs to know
what physician-assisted suicide is since it is not described in the text. The readers want to know
the opinions of other people regarding this topic. To read and understand this text it would take
the audience a substantial time since it contains formal vocabulary and different metaphors that
require critical thinking.
Ethos
Ethos is one of the strategies that Apte uses in this article; she uses different kinds of information
in order to gain credibility. For example, she provides some of her background information at the
end of the text. Apte (2015) shares with the audience that she is a School of Environmental and
biological Sciences sophomore majoring in biotechnology with a minor in public health. This
information allows the reader to know that the author is a credible source of information and that
Apte is well informed about this topic. The Daily Targum is a newspaper published at Rutgers
University by students. Knowing this, readers can infer that this is a reliable source since it is
written by college level students. The author also allows the readers to know about her opinion
and position on this polemic topic, which also gives her credibility by showing her knowledge
about the approval of physician-assisted suicide. Giving her opinion also creates a connection
with the audience that allows them to feel identified by the authors thoughts or to create a
negative perception about her comments.
Salwitz uses one of the methods that Apte uses in her article. Salwitz informs readers that
he is an oncologist and works in New Jersey. Knowing this, the readers can conclude that he is
educated and that he is informed about the topic. Throughout the entire blog post, Salwitz uses
metaphors and irony to express his own opinion, which is another method that gives him
credibility by showing his knowledge on the topic.

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Pathos

Emotional appeal is well used in the article since it helps to give the readers a clear
picture of the topic being discussed. Apte (2015), as she stated on her article, voted in favor for
legalizing physician-assisted suicide in 2012. This information helps the audience to conclude
that she is in favor of the use of this method and that this article, in a way, is trying to persuade
people to approve physician-assisted suicide. Apte also encourages the reader to picture a painful
scenario at the beginning of the article in order to make the reader feel frightened by the thought
of agony. Apte(2015) asks the readers to imagine you are suffering from a severe disease, such
as cancer, and your prognosis is such that you will die within the next six months. By using this
effective method, the reader is more likely to empathize with the use of physician-assisted
suicide.
The blog post aims to make the readers feel indignation through the way the author
expresses his opinion about physician-assisted suicide. Irony and metaphors are some methods
that the author uses to communicate his thoughts. Salwitz (2014) suggests that an app could be
developed to fill up an application to use physician-assisted suicide. This expression could be
interpreted by individuals as a way of making a game of death and suicide.
Logos
Apte uses her own opinion and experiences in order to support her claim. She also shares
the opinion of others about this topic. She mentions that she and others in favor of physicianassisted suicide are advocating for the right to suicide. in the article, Apte focuses on
highlighting the positive aspects of physician-assisted suicide to persuade the audience to share
or empathize with her point of view. On the other hand, Salwitz uses analogy to entertain the
readers as well as foreshadowing of a possible scenario involving physician-assisted suicide.

Physician-Assisted Suicide: Genre Analysis

Conclusion
Physician-assisted suicide is an important topic to consider and analyze since multiple
states are now allowing the practice of physician-assisted suicide legally. This is a topic that all
the American community should be informed of in order to have a clear understanding and
opinion about this method. Both genres approach the topic in an effective way. Apte and Salwitz
used effective methods to support their claims and create a strong text.

Physician-Assisted Suicide: Genre Analysis

References
About. (n.d.). Retrieved from The Daily Targum website:
http://www.dailytargum.com/page/about
Apte, V. (2015, January 21). The case for legalizing physician-assisted suicide.
Retrieved from The Daily Targum website: http://www.dailytargum.com/article/
2015/01/the-case-for-legalizing-physician-assisted-suicide
Bruinius, H. (n.d.). More states consider assisted-suicide laws since Brittany
Maynard's death. Retrieved from Yahoo! News website: http://news.yahoo.com/
more-states-consider-assisted-suicide-laws-since-brittany-222036932.html
Salwitz, J. (2014, August 12). The Right to Die: The Suicide Checklist.
Retrieved from The Health Care Blog: http://thehealthcareblog.com/blog/2014/
08/12/writing-the-suicide-certificate/