Physician Assisted Suicide

Which Principle of Ethics can you use?

Terminal Sedation has its place in the arena of palliative care.  This is a form of sedation that allows the patient to be unconscious and unaware of the surroundings so that they may have a painless peaceful death.  It is important to emphasize that the patient is given IV sedation to the point of unconsciousness and it is the disease that is the cause of death not the terminal sedation.  Death will happen as a natural consequence not from the sedation.  It is palliative care and not euthanasia.  The emphasis on the hospice concept is to neither hasten death nor attempt to cure the disease.  It is to assist the patient in as painless as possible death.  For states that do not have a physician assisted suicide laws this is a form of control that the patients can elect and will have a guarantee that their last moments will be pain free.  Terminal sedation needs to remain an option for patients in the end of life, it is the only guarantee to a painless, peaceful death.

 Rietjens J.C., van Delden J.M., van der Heide A, (2006) Terminal Sedation and Euthanasia: A Comparison of Clinical Practices. Arch Intern Med. 166(7):749-753. Retrieved http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=410108

Next we will talk about Physician Assisted Suicide be prepared! 

Ethics

The Nursing Code of Ethics and Ethical Dilemmas

Here are the principles of Ethical decision making!  

Autonomy: The right to self-determination. An ethical principle that involves the nurse’s willingness to respect patients’ rights to make decisions about and for themselves, even if the nurse does not agree with the patients’ decisions.
Beneficence: The duty to do good; prevent harm and remove harm.
Care: A broad concept that “in its simplest form, can be described as an attitude or orientation that leads to the beneficent attending, through acts or omissions, of one person towards another” (Cortis & Dendrick, 2003, p.78).
Ethics: The study of values in human conduct or the study of right conduct. Ethics offers a critical, rational, defensible, systematic and intellectual approach to determining what is right or best in a difficult situation.
Justice: The equitable distribution of risks and benefits. Equals ought to be treated equally and unequals may be treated unequally.
Moral: The personal beliefs and cultural values that are the basis for human conduct.
Nonmaleficence: The obligation not to inflict harm intentionally (Beauchamp & Childress, 2001).
Values: The set of personal beliefs and attitudes that we hold in high regard.

Beauchamp, T. L. & Childress, J. F. (2001). Principles of biomedical ethics (5th Ed). New York: Oxford University Press.

Cortis, J.D. & Kendrick, K. (2003). Nursing ethics, caring and culture. Nursing Ethics, 10, 77-88.