Detriments and negative effects of euthanasia

Ethics

Detriments of Euthanasia

In recent years there have been increased calls for the acceptance of euthanasia. The practice has been legalized in some European states, such as Switzerland, Holland and Belgium as well as some U.S. states, including Oregon, Montana and Washington (Steck et al., 2013). The increasing acceptance appears to indicate that the benefits of the practice outweigh the costs, but any consideration of euthanasia should also consider the potentially severe detriments. Three hypotheses will be considered in this paper; that euthanasia may lead to the devaluation of life, that euthanasia may increase social divisions, and euthanasia may reduce the attention and commitment to developing effective palliative care.

Euthanasia may result in a devaluation of life

One of the main detriments is the way that the availability of euthanasia may devalue life; it can be easily forfeited when it is perceived as being of a lesser quality, the value of life is undermined (Grommally, 2000). Matthews (1998) looked at a country where voluntary euthanasia is legal; Holland, arguing that some cases of voluntary euthanasia were emerging, where doctors believed it was right, but the patient was unable to giver consent. This is trend indicates that doctors are seeing some lives as less worth saving and treating then others. Block (1998) argues that in some cases that in some cases the real reasons why euthanasia is requested may not be investigated; reasons may include depression or concern that the individual maybe a burden (Kaldjian, 2001; Block, 1998), if a patient without a terminal illness made this request further investigations would be made; does this mean that patients with terminal illnesses have lives that are worth less? Pope John Paul II in a letter to the bishops argued that those suffering from terminal illnesses and near death were likely to be their weakest, and therefore with those most deserving of support, rather than being sent to their deaths (Pope John Paul II, 1991). With the desensitization of the taking of life, it may be argued as linking in with an increased level of acceptability with reference to other forms of voluntary suicide, as seen with the way social networking has seen numerous groups emerge to support those who wish to commit suicide (Luxton et al., 2012).

Euthanasia may increase social divisions