Essay On Physician Assisted Suicide And Euthanasia

The discussion on physician-assisted death (PAD) and euthanasia has been fenced with controversy whether by the media or in philosophy. Considerably, the arguments that surround this issue has increased periodically due to the fact that health care and medicine has evolved continuously to safeguard not just patients and families, but all health care providers as well. Physician assisted death is “the voluntary termination of one’s own life by administration of a lethal substance with the direct or indirect assistance of a physician” (Westefeld et al., 2013, p. 539). Oftentimes, PAD is erroneously used interchangeably with euthanasia. According to Dieterle, euthanasia occurs when the active instigator of death is the physician. Contrarily, in PAD, the patient him or herself is the instigator of death (2007, p. 127). In the discussion of physician-assisted death, the nurse’s position varies significantly from the physician. As patient advocates, nurses assist in patient’s decisions relative to their end-of-life care. This paper aims to develop an understanding of patient-assisted death and its implications to the nursing profession. Additionally, it will tackle the current Canadian laws, ethical considerations, and the role of the nurse …show more content…
In this document, PAD was termed as medical-assisted dying as it involves nurse practitioners (NPs) not only physicians; which means administering medications that can cause patient’s death. In addition, CNO discussed that registered nurses (RNs) and registered practical nurses (RPNs) can only partake in the process by providing assistance to the NP or physician who will provide the medical assistance in dying. It was emphasized that no other clinicians could administer such medications other than the NP and physician