Intensive Care, Outpatient Surgery, Aesthetics, Education, and Nursing Leadership
One of the biggest ethical dilemmas in nursing today is the topic of medical aid in dying; however, regardless of your stance, the patient must remain at the center of care.
Wondering what a nurse’s role is in the medical aid in dying process? Let’s break it down.
It is hard to determine if this ethical dilemma in nursing and medicine will ever be accepted by all states, as the debate has been an ongoing battle.
According to the American Academy of Family Physicians (AFFP), medical aid in dying is “the practice of a physician providing a competent, terminally ill patient—at the patient’s request—with a prescription for a lethal dose of medication that the patient intends to use to end his or her own life.”
The American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) outlines Oregon as being the first U.S. state to legalize the “Death with Dignity Act” for the terminally ill in 1997.
Not only is medical aid in dying considered an ethical dilemma in nursing, as it can be seen as an abandonment of patient healing, but in modern medicine as a whole.
Non-profit organization, Death with Dignity National Center, has been actively advocating, lobbying, and campaigning for the legalization of the “Death with Dignity Act” on a national scale.
However, as of now, the practice of medical aid in dying is only accepted in the following states:
It is hard to determine if this ethical dilemma in nursing and medicine will ever be accepted by all states, as the debate has been an ongoing battle.
Although the practice has been legalized in all the previously mentioned states, each has its own specific guidelines, protocols, and requirements that will need to be individually researched.
It is important that we continue to provide compassionate care to each and every patient we encounter, no matter their beliefs.
In some states, nurses may decline active participation in the implementation of medical aid in dying, but they remain responsible for the scope of end-of-life care practices, which includes providing information, managing symptoms, and other palliative interventions; this continues to be an ethical dilemma in nursing.
Beyond the fact that nurses and NPs are not permitted to prescribe the medication typically administered in this end-of-life care process, there is a general lack of guidance and clarification given to them.
Nurses are challenged to define their practice in this role.
Unlike physicians, nurses are required to practice under the auspices of their employer, and they may have conflicting personal beliefs about the medical aid in dying process, which can impact their willingness to be actively involved.
If you agree or disagree, that is your choice.
However, if you are living in a state where the medical aid in dying process is legal, there are several things you can do should you encounter a patient who wishes to begin the medical aid in dying process.
At the American Academy of Nursing’s annual conference in 2018, the following information was presented; it is now in the published under the “Assisted Suicide/Aid in Dying: What is the Nurse’s Role?” section of the American Journal. Check it out:
Although this topic is difficult to discuss and is an ongoing ethical dilemma in nursing, it is important that we continue to provide compassionate care to each and every patient we encounter, no matter their beliefs.
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