'Right to Die', what's your take on it?

[Shari888, BSN, RN]

So California recently passed the 'right to die' law and I recently saw an episode on 'Vice' where a woman in Europe actually allowed the journalist to record her euthanasia. A nurse was there who set up the heplock in her vein where the medication went in. Wanted to know what other nurses think of the 'right to die' law which is now legal in 5 states and if you would participate in it if there were a nursing job for that?

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

I will not participate. It is against my religious belief. God will decide what day and time a person will die and I will not push the drugs that will bring them to death.

Then you have absolutely nothing to worry about as each and every state that has passed legislation allowing death with dignity requires that the person self-administeror their own lethal dose of medication prescribed by a health care provider with prescriptive privileges.

[Purple_roses]

In all of the states which have passed a Death With Dignity Law, the laws specifically state that no one can be forced to participate in the event. And in none of the laws is it even legal for anyone to "push the drugs" in the first place. These simply involve a willing doctor prescribing a drug which the patient will self administer. No one in health care will have to compromise their beliefs, as the laws now stand.

Can you see these laws changing in the distant future, once the prescription is almost universally accepted?

[canigraduate]

My state passed a Death with Dignity law about 2 years ago. A few months later, I applied for a home hospice job. During the interview I was asked my opinion on assisted suicide. The agency does not allow nurses to participate in assisted suicide. If a client called and said they had just taken a fatal dose of something a nurse could go care for them, but the nurse could not give the fatal dose.

I'm wary of "death with dignity" laws. Health care is all about money, and death is cheap. What will stop health care providers from not recommending treatment because of cost? Who decides who gets treated and who gets "death with dignity?" Will it depend on the patient's illness, or their insurance?

In our current system, providers are paid per service, so keeping people alive to need services is their priority. Insurance companies, not so much.

Everything depends on a patient's insurance, already, why would this be different?

The same people who decide what is covered through insurance now will probably make the decisions in the future. You know they will try not to cover ANYTHING, like they try to get away with now.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Can I just say that the lack of knowledge to differentiate between physician assisted suicide/death and euthanasia, even within the healthcare people on this thread, is shocking?

Also, to the person I quoted in my last post re: God will determine what day and time a person will die:

Aren't we already messing with that? Look at all of the futile medical interventions that occur every single day already.

[canigraduate]

I will not participate. It is against my religious belief. God will decide what day and time a person will die and I will not push the drugs that will bring them to death.

It's OK to prolong life, though? Don't you think it's a little hypocritical to say that God decides when you will die, when man dishes out antibiotics, pacemakers, and all the interventions in the ICU to make sure God's will is thwarted for as long as possible?

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

Can you see these laws changing in the distant future, once the prescription is almost universally accepted?

No, I don't. There will always be enough people willing to assist (and right now that only involves a willing physician to prescribe, not administer); those who have a personal philosophy against it won't be forced into it.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

This is probably not a popular opinion but I support right to die and euthanasia. I'm atheist so I don't believe there is some higher power. I have assisted many a time in terminal weans in the ICU, sometimes in the event the patient wanted it.

The problem, IMO, with "right to die" is the patient is not always able to take the medication. What comes to mind is dementia patients. My grandma has had dementia for 15 years, physically her body is fine. But she no longer speaks, barely eats, doesn't know anyone or anything. What a pathetic existance. My mother says she wants a bullet to her brain before she suffers the same fate as my grandmother but there seems to be more humane ways.

But America is deeply religious and in the name of "God", science and freedom has a difficult time progressing.

I don't see what religion has to do with that. Plenty of atheists would agree that a person should be of sound mind in order to make such an important decision as that. One could argue many points about those with dementia and their right to die, but most of the arguments would have to do with self determination, not religion.

[kldepp08]

Pro all the way!! Death with dignity is too far often overlooked!

[Purple_roses]

No, I don't. There will always be enough people willing to assist (and right now that only involves a willing physician to prescribe, not administer); those who have a personal philosophy against it won't be forced into it.

I meant a little more along the lines of how it relates to nurses. There was a time nurses couldn't administer IM injections. I could see nurses helping patients who couldn't take the pill themselves one day. Maybe a patient with ALS who is fully capable of making the decision, but needs it via feeding tube.

[Laurie52]

A ridiculous argument but you're not the first one to try to make it. First of all, as I said in my first response, the nurse DOES NOT give the medication. Only a physician can do that. There are safeguards in place to prevent choosing to end it because you're a burden. Also, right to die is not an option for the "not perfect people" you talk about. If you have ethical issues with it, THEN DON'T PARTICIPATE. When you can come back with a valid argument let me know.

These points were not ridiculous arguments but rather ethical issues. To make this issue clear, advocating for a physician to administer medication is euthanasia, not physician assisted suicide. In Europe, the laws have changed from assisted suicide to euthanasia and last year at least one country has made euthinization of children legal. Do you really think that children can make a rational decision to die?

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

I meant a little more along the lines of how it relates to nurses. There was a time nurses couldn't administer IM injections. I could see nurses helping patients who couldn't take the pill themselves one day. Maybe a patient with ALS who is fully capable of making the decision, but needs it via feeding tube.

Well, that's certainly a compelling question. I think it's a valid point that if and when this idea becomes more accepted, it could eventually become an optional nursing intervention. I could see this being more of a specialty, perhaps separate from hospice, tightly regulated, and like any specialty, optional in the sense that only interested people would even go into that field.

That is a very good question, though. I think Brittany Maynard was very worried that she would be unable to administer her med if she waited too long. I wouldn't be surprised if she went ahead and acted earlier than necessary or desired based on that very fear. Which is unfortunate if true.

[MunoRN, RN]

I will not participate. It is against my religious belief. God will decide what day and time a person will die and I will not push the drugs that will bring them to death.

I don't understand how that view is generally compatible with nursing. If a patient is under your care and needs you to administer treatment for an MI or Sepsis, do you refuse because that would be interfering with God's decision of when this person should die?