Voluntary Euthanasia

[GARY_FL_NURSE]

I think one of the cruelest things we do is let patients lay in nursing home beds without the legal ability to terminate their own lives. I'd be interest in what other nurses think of this.

If you ask active people who are in their 40s and alert and you say to them "when you get older and you lose the capacity to know your surroundings and you no longer recognize your family members, and if you reach a point where someone has to change your brief in a bed or feed you your meals, would you prefer to live your life like that or would you prefer someone terminate your life painlessly and peacefully?"

What do you think most people's response would be???

Mine would be termination of my life! But guess what that is against the law in most states.

I'd be interested in knowing what other nurses think about this. We get trained over and over again about abuse. Well to me, the biggest abuse we commit is we do not allow Voluntary Euthanasia over laying in a soiled brief in a nursing home bed where we can't even feed ourselves anymore. Voluntary Euthanasia is illegal in all states and PAD is allowed only in Washington, Oregon, Montana, and Vermont.

[Pangea Reunited, ASN, RN]

Babies soil themselves and need help eating, too. I definitely think there's room for improvement in end of life care, but confused, incontinent people who need help eating can still have pleasurable lives if they're well taken care of.

[Ruas61, BSN, RN]

Slippery slope. I can see the logic in it but the potential for abuse scares the crap out of me.

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

I'm not in favor of active euthanasia anyway...I can see people's reasoning who are, but I prefer the approach of aggressive-as-necessary pain management, since that's typically the reason people cite for wanting to be out of their misery. I'm more in favor of doing anything to eliminate said misery, even if it means risking an accidental overdose.

But in this case, you're not talking about physician assisted suicide. When talking about people who can no longer consent to ANYTHING, we're treading into dangerous territory when considering letting other people consent to their death. That's no longer assisted suicide; it's homicide.

[pro-student]

I'm totally in favor of voluntary active euthanasia. I mean, we consider in inhumane to let pets/farm animals suffer at the end of life when it can be painlessly and peacefully put out of its misery. Don't humans deserve at least as much compassion as our animals. I firmly believe any healthcare provider who is against euthanasia either has never cared for a terminally ill pt or has no heart. All of us know how agonizing it can be just to watch much less experience.

That being said, I think their needs to be safeguards on euthanasia to prevent abuse. I fully support the Dutch model which requires than only a pt can request VAE, pt must request on more than on occasion, must be terminally ill, 2 physicians verifying dx., totally informed consent of alternatives (palliative care, tx options for condition).

It's about much more than pain. End of life symptoms often include dsypnea (for pathology, meds, or both), dehydration and nutritional problems, incontinence, immobility, depression and anxiety, delirium and/or hallucinations. Sure these symptoms can be managed by good palliative care but why force someone to endure IVs, tube feedings, inconvenience, bed bound, endless meds, and mental anguish when it's totally unnecessary. I'm all for high quality palliative care but I'm also for options in end of life care.

[OCNRN63, RN]

Babies soil themselves and need help eating, too. I definitely think there's room for improvement in end of life care, but confused, incontinent people who need help eating can still have pleasurable lives if they're well taken care of.

Yeah, I can just think of how "pleasurable" it could be to be confused, incontinent, incapable of performing even the most basic ADLs independently.

​Languishing in a nursing home is not my idea of a good life.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

I think it's a slippery slope. Anyone seen "Soylent Green"?

[PomMom65]

There was an excellent documentary on HBO and you cansee it on Netflix. It is called How to Die in Oregon. They have the death with dignity law in place. However you must be of sound mind to participate. I am a Hospice nurse. I think that with aggressive palliative care we can keep people comfortable. I worry about people choosing to utilize the death with dignity law simply because they think they are inconveniencing their family. Slippery slope for sure.

[toomuchbaloney]

I say lets improve our palliative care in those cases where no cure is possible and comfort is in question. AFTER that is significantly improved we can talk about killing the people who remain in situations involving sustained suffering with no hope of improvement.

We euthanize our farm animals and pets because we don't want to spend the time or money caring for them until they die from their illness or injury.

[duskyjewel]

Human life is already too devalued in our culture. We should in no way make that worse. I will fight euthanasia in all forms for as long as I can. My work in hospice is completely about preserving the value and dignity of human life, and I will never work in any organization that promotes or practices euthanasia.

You're making a lot of assumptions about what disabled people can and can't do, feel, have, and contribute. None of us have any right to take any moment from any of them, not even if they say that's what they want. We've all seen questionable family dynamics and there is too much risk that those would be behind a death request to make this a legitimate option.

I have to say the tone of this thread is so far heartening. :)

[emergenceRN17, ASN, BSN, RN]

I say that after all efforts are exhausted and the patient is in sound mind that it should be allowed. There are too many instances where a family member just can't let go and they drag on the suffering of another.

[grandpaj]

I think patients should be able to make their own educated decisions regarding assisted suicide/euthanasia. When properly overseen by a physician with a consenting patient of sound mind, I don't see a problem with it. I don't know why it would be hard to support a patient with a terminal diagnosis who didn't want to suffer pain and/or incapacitation. Euthanasia in a situation where a patient isn't able to give consent is a completely different ideological argument.

There's a PBS Frontline documentary called The Suicide Tourist, about a man with ALS who chooses to travel to Europe for assisted suicide. It's a pretty powerful documentary in terms of looking at human suffering and the importance of being in control of one's disease process, especially for terminal diagnoses. Interviews with the subject and his family members are emotionally charged, but very insightful.