Should Nurses Participate A Active Euthanasia?

This author’s personal perceptions concerning patients facing a lingering terminal illness, have been shaped by over 20 years of critical care nursing experience. Facing death and illness on a daily basis requires self-examination and a high degree of comfort with one’s own mortality, limits and values. Constant exposure to the fragility of life forces respect for the whole person and the people who love them. A general approach to patients who are actively dying is to allow them to define what they want and need during this time. The nurse’s role

Euthanasia is direct action towards an ill person to ultimately end their life (Rachel 245). Viewing the performance of euthanasia should vary according to how severe the illness and pain is that the patient has. In an extreme utilitarianism perspective, act of euthanasia is morally right if it is what the patient wants and if everyone else is in agreement. On the contrary if the patient is terminally ill and in incapable of deciding on what should be done then, the decision should be left to someone who knows the patient well enough to know what would the patient most likely want to be done. Does everyone in agreement of making a decision on the patient’s behalf make the act of euthanasia morally

The purpose of this paper is to define the issue and legalities of assisted death and the key ethical arguments, including the social values and norms, encompassing this topic. Also included in this paper on voluntary/assisted suicide is the connection with nursing practice and the theories and/or principles that guide the foundation and fundamentals of the profession in this particular area. Assisted death is a term that encompasses both assisted suicide and also active

The idea of non-voluntary active euthanasia is not such a disaster, as euthanasia itself. The problem that comes into consideration is when and why it should be used. When euthanasia is non-voluntary and active, such as on a patient with dementia, the ethical decision comes into play if there are episodes of clarity and the patient has or has not mentioned what they want to do at the end of life situations. Principles of deontology suggest duty and obligation. A medical professional in such situations have an obligation to fulfill the patient 's wishes. The nature of their obligation does not sway based on what they personally think. Patients with dementia have some moments of clarity, but because their brains are still deteriorating, non-

It is the nurse’s responsibility to remove their personal beliefs when providing care to the patient. If the nurse is persistent in their own beliefs and values there can be a disruption in the successful transition to palliative care. Nurses may feel that they are failing at their job when a patient chooses to go into palliative treatment. The nurse may question their performance as a nurse and have uncertainty regarding whether or not they could of done something more for that

England has become a forerunner on this debate as witnessed in the 2012 Coalition of Assisted Dying (COAD) discussions. One element discovered thru this process was that nurses were not being involved in the evidence contributions regarding assisted suicide. One of the key outcomes of the COAD discussions in 2012 was that Nurses should be an integral part of the decision-making and support process if Assisted Suicide is legalized in a modernized medical system.

****In this article nurses had raised some extended questions, “what is the nursing role in treating patients than physician-assisted suicide?” First, we need to define physician-assisted suicide “the provision to a patient by a medical health professional of the means of ending his or her own life” (Dilemma,2010). As we all know that the patient has the right to deny any kind of treatment at the patient’s proposal so we cannot view it as physician-assisted suicide but other than a respectful manner to the patient’s nobility and one’s own choice. Nurses encounter problems when caring for their terminally ill patient who request for a physician-assisted suicide. The Code of Ethics for Nurses, is a standard principle for nurses to abide by. When the end-of-life questions arises for nurses, “The Code of Ethics for Nurses” is to guide their practice so no

Therefore, it is up to healthcare providers to be supportive of patient’s decisions and help them cope with whatever the outcome may be. According to the ANA Code of Ethics, “nurses establish relationships of trust and provide nursing services according to need setting aside any bias or prejudice” (http://nursingworld.org/DocumentVault/Ethics_1/Code-of-Ethics-for-Nurses.html). This means my role as a nurse is not to influence the individual’s decision, but to allow them to decide for themselves and respect their wishes. This quote from the Code of Ethics also supports the concepts of fidelity, autonomy, and beneficence. Fidelity is being loyal and supportive of our patients, while autonomy allows the patient to make their own decisions without fear of judgement from their nurse (http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/EthicsStandards/Resources/Ethics-Definitions.pdf). Beneficence is what I believe to be of the utmost importance in ethical situations, because if my patients cannot believe that I will be their advocate and treat them with compassion, then they cannot trust me and no relationship can be

In the debate over euthanasia, the opponent concludes that euthanasia should be illegal because it is goes against nature, dignity, personal-interests and has a practical effect. On the other side of the debate, the supporter concludes that euthanasia should be legal because moral principles, what it really mean to kill, end suffering, the difference between injury and not injury. In this essay I will conclude that euthanasia should be legal.

While the nursing profession is fulfilling, it is not without challenges. Nurses are faced with a multitude of ethical dilemmas in clinical practice on a daily basis. According to Fant (2012) no matter where nurses function in their diverse roles, they are faced with ethical decisions that can impact them and their patients. Some examples of moral issues that nurses encounter in contemporary nursing practice and research include but not limited to: refusal of treatment, scarcity of resources, disagreement with caregivers, treating patients with impaired decision-making, futile treatment decisions for cancer patients, end-of-life decisions, advanced treatment directives, and euthanasia (Leuter, Petrucci, Mattei, Tabassi, & Lancia, 2013).

First, nurses are not formed or trained to participate in assisted suicide despite their competence and their compassion in giving care to their patients. On the daily basis, they save so many lives and they also face different kind of ethical dilemmas, but assisted suicide is a very difficult, treacherous and complicated issue that can be challenging and hard for them to kill their patients with their own hands. Plus, Nurses can experience moral distress and conflict of conscience in these situations in answering to terminally diseased patients demand for assisted suicide death. In nursing schools, they are trained to heal, save lives, prevent illnesses and alleviate pain, they never signed up or trained to kill patients. They were always

What exactly coerces someone to want to die? Is it the thought of dying while in excruciating pain? Is it because they are going to die soon anyway gripped by a terrible disease? Or is it because they have a mental illness that does not let go of their psychological well-being? These are only a few of the many reasons why someone might want to die today or tomorrow. Whether this is right or wrong is very controversial. Assisted suicide is very prevalent in today’s society, with five states deeming it legal and the remaining states considering it illegal. There are several major conflicting values and ethical principles within assisted suicide that may be in opposition to the code of ethics. However, the ethical principle of autonomy allows the patient to have control over their body and illness and die with dignity rather than with pain and suffering. The advanced practice nurse is an integral part of the interdisciplinary team in order to educate patients and recognize end of life concerns.

Many nurses are regularly confronted with the hopelessness and exhaustion of patients and their families making it difficult for them to find balance between the preservation of life and the enablement of a dignified death. Nurses must acknowledge their own feelings of sorrow, fear, dismay and helplessness and recognize the impact of these emotions in clinical decision making. These distressing pressures may cause a nurse to contemplate intentionally assist in ending a patient's life as a humane and compassionate answer, however; the conventional goals and standards of the nursing profession mitigate against it.

The principle of autonomy states; “individuals have the right to make choices about their own lives” (Kozier et al, 2010.p.79). In health care, this means health care providers must honour the person’s right to choose methods or approaches to diagnosis or treatment (Kozier et al, 2010). Moreover, by not giving the client, the right to make her own decision this could cause anxiety and physiological effect to both parties. Which disregard the World Health Organization (WHO), definition of quality end of life care as the "active total care of patients whose disease is not responsive to curative treatment" (Sepúlveda, Marlin, Yoshida, & Ullrich, 2002). This definition includes meeting the psychological, social, and spiritual needs for both patients and families (Sepúlveda et al, 2002). In addition, the nurse did not put the beneficence principle in action, which “is the obligation to do good” (Kozier et al, 2010, p.80). Nurses have a duty to implement actions that benefit their client’s best interest (Kozier et al, 2010). It lays the groundwork for trust that society places in nursing professional, and provides nursing’s context and justification (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2002). This principle seems straight forward, but it is actually very complex. Should we determine what is good- by subjective, or by objective, means? So, when people disagree about what is good, whose opinion counts? In this case, the client, and not the family because she has the

Where is the distinction made? Personally, it's hard for me as a nursing student to differentiate between the passive acceptance of withholding medications or treatments per the patient's request and the disfavored active form of euthanasia. I am aware that with one form the nurse is indirectly aiding in a person's request to die and in the other form, the nurse is directly aiding in their death. Either way, the nurse was responsible for carrying out the patient's death wish. It is my belief that this topic brings about a lot of debate within the nursing profession, especially between nurses who don't deal with the terminally ill and nurses who do. It is hard to define the whole nursing profession as being opposed to euthanasia because each nurse has seen or experienced the death of someone and has been affected by it individually. For example, I have witnessed the pain and