Euthanasia Essay -- Ethical Issues, Physician Assisted Suicide

It is the principle of conduct which requires us (healthcare workers) to act in a way that benefits others (patients) by preventing or removing harm, or more directly acting to produce a good Due to the nature of the job, it can be said that nurses often have to deal with the situtaion of ethical dilemas. Because we live in a culturaly diverse society, our values are not necessarily the same. This often gives the leeway for ethical dilemas such as, whether euthanasia and assisted suicide are moraly right or wrong. Euthanasia is defined as "a deliberate intervention or omission with the express intention of hastening or ending an individual's life, to relieve intractable pain or suffering" (Sanders, 2007). Assisted suicide refers to making available to an individual the means (for example, pills or a weapon) to take his or her own life† (Michele, 2004). Euthanasia and assisted suicide are argued to be done to relieve a patient from pain and suffering, however that can be countered. It is important for one to consider the reasoning behind why people ask for euthanasia or assisted suicide. In the case of Mr. Maxwell, who is diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis for m ore than 10 years and is requesting for euthanasia. Morally, I do not support his request to remove his ventilator because it is unethical. This paper focuses on why euthanasia and assisted suicide are wrong from the perspective of autonomy, nonmaleficence and rule-utilitarianism. Very good ï Å  Autonomy Autonomy is usually used to justify the act of euthanasia and assisted suicide. Autonomy is said to be the right to self-government. "Within the contexts of moral and bioethical philosophy it is the capacity of a rational individual to make an informed, un-coerced d... ...st cases, they are not well informed about other options they might have. It is the role of the nurse to provide the patient with other alternatives other than suicide. "The autonomy of the patient is important, but not absolute.† (Quadhebeur, 2009) Realizing that the nurse's role is not to do harm is as well important, because when nurses are seen as both care givers and killers, it makes it hard for patients to put their trust on nurses. As the rule utilitarian will argue, it is important to do what is morally right. Not killing an innocent human being is right in this situation, and this theory should be adhered to. Finally, it can be argued that "euthanasia is too drastic an intervention to be used for patients at the end of their life; this is because it makes dealing correctly with death almost impossible and it is also irreversible" (Quaghebeur, 2009).