o support and care for an aging parent if such an easy alternative exists. Thus, an aging parent may not make an effort to live if they are able to spare their loved ones the "burden" of being "forced" to take care of them. Advances in pain control and palliative care will also be threatened if euthanasia and assisted suicide are approved as a means of relieving pain and suffering. Considering that "killing is far cheaper and quicker than providing sufficient medical treatment, the failure to adequately treat pain, in all probability will not be corrected if euthanasia is legalized"(Neils, 1997: 129). The other extreme – making assisted suicide so fully legal that it is considered a right – has a profound negative implication for society as a whole. The primary concern is the message that would be given to society. Canadians would not be encouraged to face the natural existential suffering of life, to learn how to overcome it and to learn how to face hardship. Instead, the message portrayed to society would be that individuals are entitled to take the easy way out. Premature death would be viewed as a solution to misery, pain, aging, socials ills and rising health costs. Legalizing euthanasia does not solve the problem of suffering, but surrenders to it.
             If euthanasia was legalized, many difficult questions, among others, will arise when individuals are in an unconscious state, in a coma or are unable to convey their wishes. Patients alone seem to have the ultimate right to decide whether or not they should end their lives, but opponents of rational suicide believe that allowing such an option would open the door to eliminating everyone deemed "unfit"(Wekesser, 1995:124). For example, individuals afflicted with a serious condition, but who are not near death may then be allowed to end their lives. Opponents are arguing that such a concession would open the door for the mentally unstable and the temporarily depressed to e...