Benefits of Euthanasia

This essay discusses the benefits of euthanasia, including ending patient suffering, ensuring dignity, and saving financial resources. It also explores the ethical and moral debates surrounding euthanasia.

Running head: advantage of euthanasia 1
Benefits of euthanasia
Hardeep Singh
000762400
Mohawk College
David Wearing

advantage of euthanasia 2
Benefits of euthanasia
(Fragkou & Galanis, 2018) are of the viewpoint that one of the most important debates of
the world which had formed the central lacuna of many scholarly works since the traditional
times is the fact that whether the individuals should be given the right to terminate or take their
own lives. As opined by (Ballenger, 2018), the major support for this debate comes from the
various religious texts, particularly the Bible, which states that the human beings are the creation
of God Himself and everything which happens in their lives is the will of God. In this regard, the
process of euthanasia is an important since it believes in offering medical assistance to the
people to end their lives. Euthanasia is defined as the process of mercy killing or intentionally
culminating lifespan of a patient to release the soreness and suffering of the patient. Different
countries have different euthanasia laws on the basis of which euthanasia is characterized as
intentional euthanasia, unintentional euthanasia and non-voluntary euthanasia (Campbell, 2016).
The concerned concept is accepted by few sets of people whereas completely rejected by others
based on individual concept and mind-set. The major problem faced by this concept is the ethical
acceptance of euthanasia. Some patient itself requests euthanasia on the score of the terminal
illnesses that they face and have no hope that cure for them would be developed in a near future.
Euthanasia had raised a debate regarding very meaning and value of a person’s independent
existence and whether should individuals be given the right to terminate their lives. Hence, this
essay will argue about the benefits associated with euthanasia while analyzing the
counterarguments made regarding the usage of the same.
Euthanasia had been banned or prohibited in various nations of the world because of the
ethical as well as religious implications associated with the same (Donkin, 2017). However, the
process of euthanasia has took a different turn in Canada when Bill 52, was allowed to undergo

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euthanasia on the score of his health condition (Wilson, 2018). It became effective from 2015
when the national government and the medical association of the concerned nation reached a
consensus that in the cases of terminal illness the patients should be given the right to die with
dignity and also as per their wish (Wilson, 2018). The bill permitted Quebecers to undergo mercy
death if the patient had any terminal illness or are at their end stage of life with no hope of
betterment or they are constantly suffering from physical or mental pain, which cannot be cured
any further. Doctors should make sure that the patient is meeting up the requirements stipulated
by the national government as well as aware of their situation and the process is only to be
undertaken with their consent (Srivastava, 2018). The Supreme Court of Canada is accepting the
concept of mercy killing and will allow doctor-aided demise and is likely to make euthanasia
permissible across Canada, but the debate is still on (Wilson, 2018). The history of this debate in
Canada started long back when a Canadian citizen named Donald Low pleaded the doctor for
mercy death and urged the government to include this concept for critically ill patient citing the
reference from other countries who are already using this concept (Sinnott, 2018). The social and
political acceptance of euthanasia is still lacking behind because of the fact that there are many
doctors who are not in the favor of euthanasia and are not ready to accept this.
One of the most beneficial aspects of the process of euthanasia is that it ends the patient’s
suffering while allowing them to die with dignity and also on their own terms. This is important
because of the fact that there are many people suffering from any terminal diseases, which
cannot be further cured or can be treated like last stage cancer. In such cases, euthanasia is the
best way to relief the person from continuous pain as well as suffering (Sánchez, 2019). On the
other hand, (Nicholas, 2018), has argued that the process of euthanasia is especially beneficial
for the individuals who are struggling with an incurable disease of their ailments and would

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happily die rather than living in pain and suffering. In addition to these, (Fragkou & Galanis,
2018) argue that the process of euthanasia puts an end to a patient’s suffering by ending the
constant psychological and physical pain which often entails the diseases or the health problems
that they are suffering from. However, (Campbell, 2016), counter-argue this by stating the fact
that euthanasia is contradictory to the notions of ethics and morals. More importantly, he argues
that no doctor or person has the ethical right to end the life of another person by the act of
euthanasia despite the best of intentions that they might be having.

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A significant benefit associated with the process of euthanasia is that the people are being
able to die with dignity while ensuring patient centered care is being offered to them. (Kumar,
2018), in this regard state that if the patients feel that no cure is available for the health issues
that they are suffering and their life is not worth living then the doctors as well as the national
government should respect their wish and allow them to undergo the process of medically
assisted suicide or more commonly called by the name of euthanasia. (Forcén & Jaramillo,
2018), on the other hand, state that dignity and respect are the two most attributes of the lives of
almost all people and when their health is failing they should be given the right to terminate their
life with respect and dignity. It is precisely here that the process of euthanasia becomes an
important one although it completely disregards the concepts of ethics and morals. (Gonta & &
Tarabeih, 2018) support the process of euthanasia by stating that through the usage of this
process an individual’s dignity and personality is maintained and hence, he or she can die in
peace and be ‘themselves’ without any pain or suffering. However, this is being counter-argued
by (Johnson, 2017)who says that euthanasia which itself is a form of suicide has a
psychosomatic result on societies and in turn gives rise to increasing propensity on the part of the
individuals to indulge furthermore in such acts. Thus, if the society accepts euthanasia as a usual
practice, it will influence people to take up euthanasia as a tool to end their life without any
major trauma.

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Euthanasia is considered as a humane act of mercy killing without causing any significant
amount of pain and suffering to the people who are undergoing the same. In this regard, it needs
to be said that the advocates of euthanasia claim that it is one of the most appropriate humane act
to release the patient’s suffering instead of using any inhumane methods like using guns to do the
same (Death, 2018). More importantly, arguing about the relative benefit of euthanasia (Sinnott,
2018) has stated that in a democratic world each person has the right to live independently, die
independently on his or her own terms and condition and the national government or the doctors
had no right to deprive them on the same merely because they think it to be unethical or
immoral. Another argument supporting the benefit of euthanasia had been made by (Ballenger,
2018) who had stated that an individual as well as their family members had to face extreme
pain, suffering and trauma during the time of terminal medical illnesses and in these scenarios
euthanasia is nothing but a humane treatment for them. However, this aspect of the process of
euthanasia is being counter-argued by (Donkin, 2017) who believes that mercy killing is against
the oath of the doctors who are responsible to save the lives of the patients rather than helping
them to end to same.

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Another major benefit of the process of euthanasia is the fact it ensures an adherence to
family centered practice of care and thereby offers the best possible healthcare solution which is
available to the patients. In this regard, (Kavehrad, 2018) is of the viewpoint that the concerned
process is especially beneficial for the families which are financially not stable and thereby
cannot afford so much of money on the patient who is incurable. In this regard, it needs to be
said that the healthcare cost incurred by the patients in Canada for the year 2016 was $228
billion which amount to 11.1% of the entire nation’s GDP (Kavehrad, 2018). More importantly,
(Srivastava, 2018) have supported this viewpoint of the process of euthanasia by stating that it
offers the families which belong to the lower economic level with an alternative solution to free
the patient from the mental as well as financial burden. Furthermore, it is seen that the hospitals
charge huge amount of money for treating a patient who is critically ill even after the patient has
no scope of betterment and thereby aggravate the pain as well as suffering of the patents in the
hope of making more money from them (Havill, et al., 2018). Thus, it is likely that the process
of euthanasia will enable them to save a significant amount of their financial resources which
could be used in an effective manner by their family members in times of need. However,
(Goligher, et al., 2017) had counter-argued this viewpoint by stating that in some cases doctors
provide the patient with a false opinion which in turn affects their mental condition. The net
result of this is that they often think that their condition cannot improve and they are a mere
financial burden of their family members which could easily be saved if they opt for euthanasia.
Hence, in such cases patient loses his or her life based on a false report.

advantage of euthanasia 8
The process of euthanasia ensures prevention of financial losses and constraints in the
healthcare organizations which could be used in an effective manner to save the life of other
patients who still have chances of getting better. In this regard, (Mani, Simha, & Gursahani,
2018) have stated that euthanasia frees up the space, funds and the equipment of the hospital
which becomes especially important from the fact that in the present times the national
government of Canada is significantly reducing the healthcare benefits offered to the patients
because of resource limitations. More importantly, it is seen that patients suffering from
irreversible coma and other terminal illnesses require huge amount of fund and space along with
calibrated equipment although their chances of survival is very low (Germán, 2019). Hence, it
can be said that the process of euthanasia benefits such patients from not utilizing these resources
for years and peacefully dying (Best, 2019). This in turn is likely to help the hospitals and other
healthcare institutions to utilize these resources in the case of the patients who have shown
positive signs to the cure which is being administered to them. However, (Zenz, Tryba, & Zenz,
2015) have repudiated the process of euthanasia by stating that these ideas of saving resources
could increase the corruption in the hospitals and prompt the authorities to give euthanasia for
saving money by influencing or manipulating the patient.
Euthanasia provides relief to patients suffering from incurable disease and chronic health
symptoms by offering them with a merciful way to end their life with respect and dignity. In this
regard, it needs to be said that one of the major benefits of euthanasia is that it enables the
paralyzed and brain-dead people who are constantly suffering and also considered to be half dead
with no response to any stimuli to end their life in a graceful manner (Kontaxaki, Paplos,
Dasopoulou, & &Kontaxakis, 2018). (Quill & Battin, 2018) have stated in these scenarios the
patients should be allowed to end their life as per their wish with dignity. More importantly,

advantage of euthanasia 9
(Wilson, 2018) has stated that the effective usage of the process of euthanasia offers the much
needed choice to the patients to decide the day as well as the time when they want to undertake
the process of euthanasia and nobody can force them regarding the same. However, (Porter &
Warburton, 2018) criticize the process of euthanasia by stating that during terminal illnesses, the
patient often lose their ability to make rational decisions and tend to believe that they have no
hope of getter better and thereby give up hope very easily. This in turn often makes them opt for
the process of euthanasia and thereby end their life.
To conclude, the process of euthanasia is an important one since it offers the choice to the
people to medically end their life when they do not have any hope of getting better or no
effective treatment options are available to them for the illnesses that they are suffering from.
More importantly, it is seen that the effective usage of the process of euthanasia offers various
benefits to the patients like it enables them to die with dignity and respect on their own terms,
enables them to end their suffering and pain, helps in saving a significant amount of their
financial resources, frees up the resources of the hospitals and healthcare institutions and others.
However, it is seen that because of the ethical as well as morals concerns associated with the
process many people have criticized the same. These aspects of the process of euthanasia become
apparent from the above analysis of the benefits of the same.

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