Ethical Issues In Nursing Practice

Death is absolutely inevitable, even with advances in science and medicine, man has not been able to stop death. At the most, we can only postpone death. Human life is from God, hence we have a primary moral obligation to show reverence for that life, at times from its beginning until natural death. Ethical issues arise from preserving life at all costs to not prolonging the dying process, from not accepting death to preparing for death. The Dignity of Death is a proverbial ethical issue that has transcended thru time yet still remains elusive. This paper aims to present the controversial issue of Physician Assisted Death from the view of nursing practice. Where do we stand? Where do we fit in the issue? What are we so afraid of?

Euthanasia

Those in favor of and support PAD contend that patients have the right to choose the circumstances of how and when they die.7 Proponents who support PAD also argue that it is in consideration of their duty to respect patient autonomy, an act of compassion to respect the patient’s choice to alleviate suffering, and that the decision to end one’s life is personal. In this regard, the principle of patient autonomy is at times misconstrued by patients often citing that they chose to die because either they do not want to suffer, they do not want to burden their families or they want to die with dignity. But in this regard, we must remember that part of respect for patients’ autonomy is the concept of free and informed consent. Hence, for a patient to be able to decide regarding his/her options it is imperative that they be given as much information regarding their condition and also their different treatment options and what each of them entail. As mentioned by Ashley and O’ Rourke, “To protect the basic need of every human person for health care and the person’s primary responsibility for his or her own health, no physical or psychological therapy may be administered without the free and informed consent of the patient, or, if the patient is incompetent, of the person’s legitimate guardian acting for the patient’s benefit and, as far

The ANA position statement even dictates that participation in PAD and Euthanasia are in contradiction to and a direct violation of the Code of Ethics for Nurses.1,2 It was cited by Ayers that according to Dramer there are four obligations of beneficence: “1) one should not inflict anything bad on the patient, 2) one should prevent anything harmful to the patient, 3) one should remove potential harm and, 4) one should promote good on behalf of the patient.” 3

Our life is a gift from God our creator, henceforth we do not have the absolute prerogative over life. We believe that all human life is sacred and to regard life as sacred means that it should not be violated, opposed, or destroyed, rather life must be protected, defended, and preserved. We only have a prerogative of stewardship over life to be used to serve God & our fellow men. When prolonging life does not contribute to attaining these goals or when treatment is useless & severely burdensome, it may be refused but this is not equivalent of suicide but merely an acceptance of the human condition. PAD is immoral, it is for a good cause to relieve the patients’ suffering but the means is totally inimical to the medical