Legalization of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia

In recent years, the issue of euthanasia has come up before the legislatures of many states. But debate has been problematic for a variety of reasons. To begin with, there are problems connected with discussing euthanasia from a philosophical standpoint alone. That is because philosophy overlaps into law, public policy, medical practice, and medical administration. Another problem is that there is no single definition of euthanasia on which medical practitioners and policy makers agree. The word euthanasia comes from Greek, first eu, meaning "good," then thanatos, meaning "death." In general, this has resulted in explaining euthanasia as mercy killing. But matters are not so simple today because of overlap of philosophy, morality, law, and the like in end-of-life contexts. Euthanasia is what the American Medical Association's Council on Ethical and Judicial describes as a doctor's administering to a patient some means of death, such as "death-causing drug or other agent" (Glasson, 1994, p. 91). First there is passive euthanasia, which is governed by the "patie

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ute illnesses or injuries "do not have an analogous conceptual framework for approaching end-of-life care." The line between palliative treatment and physician-assisted suicide would seem to be particularly muddled. This is relevant to nursing because nurses are the caregivers on the line who are positioned to execute or implement the health-care directives of others, whether physicians or patients. They must also answer to the hospital administrative apparatus. Cain and Hammes (1994, p. 161) cite the fine line between "assisted suicide, a morally objectionable means or intent (killing) [and] the treatment used to achieve a morally permissible end (pain relief)." As a practical matter, nurses have more responsibility than authority, and one way of resolving end-of-life obligations on nurses would be either to give them more authority or lessen their responsibility for patient welfare and outcomes. Responsibility, however, is embedded in the ANA Code for Nurses, which provides, in part, that nurses act "to safeguard the client and the public when health care and safety are affected by the incompetent, unethical, or illegal practice of any person," and that they "assume responsibility and accountability for individual nursing judg
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Approximate Word count = 1515
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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