Euthanasia! your opinions needed please

Nurses General Nursing

Published

  1. Euthanasia/assisted suicide

    • 13
      Are you against it?
    • 59
      Are you for it?
    • 4
      Or are you undecided?

76 members have participated

Hi there I am a 3rd year nursing student. Our class at university have been asked to compile a debate for and against euthanasia/assisted suicide, our class has been divided into two groups and I have been placed in the group for. I have been appointed as one of the main speakers to argue our case and this is where I ask for your help. I would be very grateful if anyone can post their opinions on this matter and their reasons why? It can be for or against but because I am on the for team I would love to see if anyone agrees with it. I personally agree with some aspects of it but I am on the fence due to it being such a sensitive issue. The results from this post will be used in the debate but just the numbers of people not details etc... So opinions are very welcome thank you for reading, much appreciated.

Specializes in med/surg.

I believe in the states that the "Death with Dignity" states require the person to be able to administer the concoction to themselves. There was the Maynard girl with brain cancer who moved to Oregon so she could die with dignity. I can understand it , I would not want to suffer, and I don't want to be laying and waiting for someone to change me or move me, but you never know. If there is no way to make a patient comfortable, cured, no hope of recovery, and it is their wish then I think they have a right to say what they want and decide that the quality of life is gone and they wish to rest in peace. Don't we all want to do what is right for the patient? Good Luck I wouldn't want that crazy assignment.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, OR, Peds, Patient Education.
I believe in the states that the "Death with Dignity" states require the person to be able to administer the concoction to themselves. There was the Maynard girl with brain cancer who moved to Oregon so she could die with dignity. I can understand it , I would not want to suffer, and I don't want to be laying and waiting for someone to change me or move me, but you never know. If there is no way to make a patient comfortable, cured, no hope of recovery, and it is their wish then I think they have a right to say what they want and decide that the quality of life is gone and they wish to rest in peace. Don't we all want to do what is right for the patient? Good Luck I wouldn't want that crazy assignment.

I just researched Oregon's Death with Dignity Act. It was enacted in 1994 and over 300 people have been able to end their own lives, legally. However, in 1998 two people who were terminally ill became the first ones to get physician-assisted suicide under the terms of the Death with Dignity Act, of 1994.

You can Google Oregon's Death with Dignity Law and see that the law was passed on November 4, 1994 with 57% of the population voting. The vote was 49% against the act and 51% for the the act.

Would I help a physician to assist with a patient's death if this was the wish of a cogent, terminally ill patient? Yes, I would, as I would hope that if I was terminally ill, and wanted to die and rest in peace, that a doctor would do this for me. I believe in advocating for patients and legally meeting their needs.

Thus far, the Death with Dignity Act/Law is only legal in Oregon, but I hope that soon that it will be the law of the land. It will be on the ballot in the coming election in my state.

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Specializes in kids.
Your life, your choice.

It is also a lot more economically sound to let someone choose to die as opposed to allowing the slow and painful death.

This might sound like an extremist POV, but if a healthy person of sound mind at any age wants to take the plunge, I don't see any reason to oppose the person.

Never thought I would see the day where I could (almost) agree with NOADLS

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Specializes in kids.
Tomorrow marks the 1 year death anniversary of my Aunt and Uncle (aka Mom and Dad). She was a polio survivor and very dependent on her high school sweetheart, best friend and husband. 6 months prior, he rec a diagnosis of terminal lung cancer. This unfortunately sealed the fate for both of them. Being that he had been her caretaker from the time they were 18 (both were now 65) she knew that she did not want to be a burden on anyone in the family, so they decided to leave this world together. Both were too weak to make the journey to a "right to die" state which left them no option but to take matters into the own hands. on Jan 29th 2015, I received a phone call while I was at work informing me he had ended both their lives. They had taken the time to leave notes to everyone letting us know how much the loved us. I am very much a supporter of every state being a Death with Dignity state. NO ONE should ever have to endure what they did.... esp Him. If KY were a right to die state, they would have been able to die surrounded by family and surrounded by love. Unfortunately, their story made the local news as a murder-suicide which lead to public comments of hatred and ignorance. No family should ever be left to pick up the pieces in such a way as we did.

I'm so sorry for your loss and for the ensuing nastiness.

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Specializes in ER.

Euthanasia and assisted suicide are two very different debates. The patient consent is obtained with one, and probably not the other.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, OR, Peds, Patient Education.
Euthanasia and assisted suicide are two very different debates. The patient consent is obtained with one, and probably not the other.

Which, in your opinion, does not require patient consent? I would hope that Euthanasia, meaning "good death," and assisted suicide would, each, require the consent of a terminally ill, but still cogent person

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
Euthanasia, meaning "good death,"

That may be the translation, but the legal definition is what matters here.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

I don't think it's all that useful to use the term "euthanasia" in these sorts of discussions without any clarification. There are two distinct types of euthanasia; Involuntary euthanasia, which is along the lines of murder, and Voluntary euthanasia which is more along the lines of physician assisted suicide.

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No one should be allowed to suffer at terminal time .

Disgraceful to see life preserved when the quality of that life has reached the stage of suffering and hopelessness.

All could be made legal long before , by a document setting out our wishes. ( similar to organ donation)

Legal, assisted suicide is not an option in my view .

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