With the recent ruling in New Mexico to allow physician assisted suicide for the mentally competent terminally ill, it made me wonder current views on physician assisted suicide. I found a topic on this from 2007, but a lot changes in 7 years.
I personally believe that every person has the fundamental right to choose if they want to die. As a nurse I would refuse to administer the medication but that is because I don't want to be responsible. As a future NP I would also refuse to prescribe it (for one because I think that's way out of an NP's scope) because I would not want the moral liability.
As far as suicide being a sin: What is a "sin" is determined by each individual person, and is between them and G-d. No one should be forced to suffer.
I wish there was a way to make it available to the incompetent also, patients who are in a persistent vegetative state or severely debilitated... I think PAS is much more humane than pulling someone's G-Tube and letting them starve to death... But that's just me.
