Aspects of Nursing and Euthanasia

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Legalization of Euthanasia and its Consequences
Factors Affecting the Nurses’ Perception of Euthanasia
The Difference Between the Nurses’ and Students’ Attitude to MAiD
Mental Health and Euthanasia
Conclusion
References

Introduction

Nursing is inevitably related to ethical dilemmas, and thus the behavior and decision-making of medical personnel vary drastically in each patient’s case. Euthanasia as a phenomenon of a democratic society, being an aspect of nursing, has been under discussion for decades. However, people still have not concluded whether it is ethically appropriate or not and if the legalization of euthanasia should spread wider. Most people whose profession is related to nursing believe that euthanasia should not be supported by the government and be stated legal because its purpose is to ensure a person’s right to get the proper care.

Legalization of Euthanasia and its Consequences

Research on the topic of euthanasia and people’s attitude to it has been conducted for many years. Recent studies prove the point of view on medical assistance in dying (MAiD) that was mentioned above. The subject of the research by Monteverde (2017) was to ask people who work in the medical sphere and face the necessity for euthanasia, whether they are for or against it, and why. These people’s opinions were gathered to reflect the situation in the world – in other words, to reveal what is the global attitude towards MAiD. The result has shown that countries where euthanasia remains illegal, such as Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, attempt to legalize it (Monteverde, 2017). At the same time, the representatives of countries where MAiD is legal, such as the United States, Canada, and Switzerland, claimed that it requires a thorough law inspection aimed at legislation concerning euthanasia improvement (Monteverde, 2017). Thus, legalizing this type of helping people with serious diseases does not guarantee its proper functioning and may affect the medical personnel negatively if the law system has imperfections leading to nurses’ prosecution.

Factors Affecting the Nurses’ Perception of Euthanasia

The problems connected with euthanasia implementation in different countries are not the only issue concerning the controversy of this phenomenon. The way people who work in the medical sphere refer to MAiD is even more substantial for the procedure’s quality and spreading. The study by Cayetano-Penman et al. (2020) proves that the nurses’ attitude to MAiD depends on different factors. The nurses who supported euthanasia considered such factors as “extreme uncontrollable pain, unbearable suffering, or other distressing experiences,” “legality of euthanasia,”; and “right of the patient to die” (Cayetano-Penman et al., 2020, pp. 5-6). On the other hand, the negative attitude to euthanasia was mainly caused by “religion,”; “moral and ethical dilemmas,”; “role of gender of the health professional,”; and “poor palliative care” (Cayetano-Penman et al., 2020, p. 6). Generally, nurses appeared to think positively of euthanasia because they value patients’ decisions and the role of medical personnel in providing care.

The Difference Between the Nurses’ and Students’ Attitude to MAiD

Another critical issue in solving euthanasia legalization and ensuring its proper functioning concerns the attitude of future nursing personnel – students – to it. The research on the difference between the MAiD perception of nurses and medical students was held by Green et al. (2020). It has shown that “nurses tend to be more pro-euthanasia than students” and reflect on euthanasia-related communication positively (Green et al., 2020, p. 5). The reasons for such differences in points of view can be explained by students’ understanding of their inconsistency and lack of knowledge and experience on euthanasia and the related behavior (Green et al., 2020, p. 5). Another research conducted by Hosseinzadeh and Rafiei (2017) revealed that “more than 64% of respondents were vigorously opposed to active euthanasia, more than half of whom had clinical experience”, portraying the negative image of the procedure (p. 6). Therefore, students in medical universities should have an opportunity to get familiar with all the aspects of working in the nursing sphere, including euthanasia, not to be discouraged by the lack of experience.

Mental Health and Euthanasia

Moreover, there are issues related to the justification of euthanasia and its aspects. For example, the study by Demedts et al. (2018) aimed to assess mental health nurses’ attitudes and role regarding euthanasia connected with unbearable mental suffering. Research has shown that most nurses supported MAiD and claimed that “recognizing the hopelessness of a condition does not undermine care, hope and orientation towards life” (Demedts et al., 2018, p. 408). Nurses also noted that the possibility of discussing euthanasia with the patients depends on the severity of their illnesses but still exists (Demedts et al., 2018). Thus, from the mental health nurses’ point of view, even the patients with mental health disorders can state their willingness to get MAiD if their condition allows them to express their thoughts clearly.

Conclusion

To conclude, although the necessity of euthanasia is doubted, it has already been legitimated in several countries and thus cannot be doubted. However, its relevance and the required qualification of medical staff related to medical assistance in dying are still under discussion. Numerous studies on the topic show that nurses support euthanasia as a way of providing care to patients. However, they understand that they often do not have enough knowledge or experience. Thus, euthanasia requires more research, which would provide the basis for improving the MAiD system globally.

References

Cayetano-Penman, J., Malik, G., & Whittall, D. (2020). Nurses’ perceptions and attitudes about euthanasia: A scoping review. Journal of Holistic Nursing.

Demedts, D., Roelands, M., Libbrecht, J., & Bilsen, J. (2018). The attitudes, role & knowledge of mental health nurses towards euthanasia because of unbearable mental suffering in Belgium: A pilot study, Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 25(7), 400-410.

Green, G., Reicher, S., Herman, M., Raspaolo, A., Spero, T., & Blau, A. (2020). Attitudes toward euthanasia—dual view: Nursing students and nurses, Death Studies, 1–8.

Hosseinzadeh, K., & Rafiei, H. (2017). Nursing student attitudes toward euthanasia: A cross-sectional study, Nursing Ethics, 26(2), 496-503.

Monteverde, S. (2017). Editorial: Nursing and assisted dying: Understanding the sounds of silence, Nursing Ethics, 24(1), 3-8.

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