Proponents believe the legalization of euthanasia eliminates pain and suffering. Unbearable pain and suffering are a standout amongst the most incessant reasons why euthanasia is requested.
There is a vast difference between pain and suffering that being, pain is considered being moderately objective whilst suffering is an unclear and divisive idea (EMANUEL). According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, pain is typically restricted to physical suffering related to bodily disorder like an ailment or injury whilst suffering, according to Oxford Dictionary, is the state of undergoing pain, distress or hardship usually related to mentality. It would be brutal and unjustifiable to make terminally ill patients bear the unendurable pain they experience, especially patients who suffer from incurable sicknesses like Human Immune Deficiency Syndrome(HIV), dementia (which is mostly associated with old age) and cancer, or conditions where intensive treatment would not relieve them of the pain thus affecting their quality of life(DK). Also, old age can be a factor to experiencing unbearable pain. Nowadays, people are living longer than they are used to and we realize that occasionally exceptionally old people are experiencing not only physical condition but also a wide range of minor ailments like poor vision or hearing, arthritis and a wide range of age-related medical issues. All these illnesses affect the person’s life negatively thus opting for euthanasia to put him or her out of misery (Steensig, 2014). In relation to family dependency burden, most patients believe that to end dependency burden among the family, euthanasia is the best option.
In cases where the family does not have enough funds to pay the medical bills, their ill family member believes that if euthanasia is administered, it will take away the burden off the family. More often than not, patients found in this situation allow their thoughts to take a better part of the decision they make especially in a situation like this. Some significant components that gives off an impression on how most patients suffer are: uncontrolled side effects, mental misery and existential endurance (Foley, 1995).
