Physician Assisted Suicide Ethics

As precious as life is to come in to this world, there is debate about whether life going out of this world should hold the same amount of pricelessness, happiness, and peace in cases of the terminally ill with no chance of long-term survival. This deliberation of whether physician assisted suicide should be permitted is a major medical ethical concern, however, as a future nurse, this argument does not have a place in modern medicine. In the following sections, the ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, and nonmaleficence are discussed with regard to the patient’s best interest and the personal views and opinions of a prospective nurse. Autonomy, also referred to as self-determination, is defined as freedom of choice or accepting responsibility

Physician assisted suicide aids a patient in proactively shaping their end of life care by giving their consent early enough and making sure all pre-screenings are completed. As opposed to the notoriously inaccurate prognoses, sometimes many terminally ill patients have symptoms that cannot be sufficiently controlled (Vignette, 2013). Beneficence is about compassion, taking a positive action in helping others, and at the heart of it all, being an outstanding patient advocate. Fulfilling end of life wishes is a small commitment to a patient as a future nurse. This is not a slippery slope, physicians and nurses can decide to opt out of “doing good” if they so choose to practice that way (Berry, 2015). After screening for competency and any underlying psychiatric illnesses, practicing in an environment where death can be accomplished with dignity and minimal pain and suffering is doing the right thing, it is doing good (Berry,

Personally, I believe this is the core of the medical oath and moral obligation in nursing ethics. With this in mind, the American Medical Association and the American Nurses Association both insist that assistance in dying is incompatible with professional role integrity. Moreover, actually refusing to assist a patient in dying abandons patients during their time of greatest need, thus imposing harm (Cheon et al., 2015). I do not support physician assisted suicide is cases where the informed decision is exposed to vulnerable groups or populations who do not freely choose or who are incapable of choosing or refusing aid in dying. This is a duty-based framework and reasoning which is defined as, “a duty to do something or to refrain from doing something” (Marquis & Huston, 2015) and I stand confidently behind that as a student, nurse and ethical