ANA POSITION STATEMENT: Euthanasia, Assisted Suicide, and Aid in Dying

Euthanasia, Assisted Suicide, and Aid in Dying
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Euthanasia, Assisted Suicide, and Aid in Dying
Assisted suicide refers to the process in which a certified health professional assist a patient to die. The clinician can provide information or administer a dose to aid the death of the person (Cohen, 2008). Similarly, euthanasia denotes deliberate admission of lethal drugs to end a person’s life with the intent of alleviating them from pain or suffering. Aspects of euthanasia comprise active, passive, voluntary, non-voluntary, and involuntary euthanasia. Nonetheless, aid in dying describes the necessary measures taken to help patients while they are dying, for example, the use of life-supporting machines to aid patients in a coma with the hope of recovery. The assisted suicide and euthanasia is a debatable is a controversial issue across the political, economic and health spectrums. Principal considerations entail the ethical, legal frameworks, religious and social values regarding the worth of a person’s life and human rights.
‘The American Nurses Association’ (ANA) are against the participation of nurses in the provision of assisted suicide and euthanasia. The association argues that the act signifies a violation of the ethical code of the practitioners. Besides, nurses have the responsibility of providing humane, comprehensive, and compassionate care to the patients. Such care should foster respect and observe human rights (Pappas, 2012). In this view, the involvement of clinicians in ending lives of individuals is against the ethical code of practice.

Equally, life is a precious gift that is protected by the federal laws and religious teachings.
As highlighted, the use of euthanasia and assisted suicide is a violation of the human dignity and value of life. Mainly, life is sacred, and sanctity of life is of greatest significance in the pursuance religious teachings (Pappas, 2012). Thus, only God can end an individuals’ life. The belief makes it evident that the deliberate procedure to end life is a violation of God’s will and a sin.
Subsequently, it is immoral and illegal to allow the use of euthanasia and assisted suicide. Such procedures if tolerated and legalized would compromise the standards of the health profession. Similarly, legalizing and allowing voluntary euthanasia can lead to a gradual change in peoples’ attitude to accommodate non-voluntary and voluntary euthanasia. Pappas (2012) suggest that the health standards would be compromised and by an extension and the evil persons in the administration may misuse the chance to kill innocent citizens. Hence, allowing assisted suicide is a dangerous procedure that the society may regret.
Correspondingly, allowing admission of euthanasia and assisted suicide hints to acts that contravene the code of medical ethics. Pappas (2012) identifies that a physician should respect human life and advance measures of uplifting the healthy living. However, euthanasia portrays that doctors should neglect their obligation of preserving human life and instead facilitates death. In the end, patients may develop mistrust for not being sure of the doctor’s intentions.
Overall, euthanasia or any form of assisted suicide is unethical. Instead, the stakeholders should advance other mechanisms of alleviating pain and saving lives. The advances in medical technology including the palliative care and mental health treatments are applicable for handling the extreme physical and psychological pain and suffering. Thus, a patient under the right care, medical procedures, and appropriate environment should not be deprived of the dignity to have a painless natural death. In this view, the state should uphold the dignity of human life by prohibiting assisted suicide.
 
Reference
Cohen-Almagor, R. (2008). Euthanasia in the Netherlands: The policy and practice of mercy killing. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Pappas, D. M. (2012). The euthanasia/assisted-suicide debate. Santa Barbara, Calif: Greenwood.