Euthanasia: fact, fear and fantasy

Abstract

In moments of candour, many nurses and doctors will tell you that they believe they have shortened patients' lives by administering or prescribing large doses of morphine in an attempt to control the pain of advanced disease. Professionals may become sympathetic to the possibility of legalization of euthanasia in such situations, fearing that they walk a tightrope between inadequate symptom control on the one hand and euthanasia on the other. Yet we, as health professionals, have a curious facility for blurring cause and effect when it comes to caring for dying patients.

Best Interests: a Concept Analysis and Its Implications for Ethical Decision-Making in Nursing

“…In the same way, the term is used in decisions relating to unconscious people who, being unable to communicate any opinions, are deemed incompetent. 2,26 For those deemed mentally incapacitated, due to old age, mental illness or mental handicap, the concept of best interest has been used in relation to living arrangements and medical treatment. Sheridan22 discusses the use of the concept to support the employment of baffle locks to keep the elderly mentally infirm in wards.…”