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Assisted Euthanasia Ethical Analysis Essay

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Assisted Euthanasia Ethical Analysis Essay
An Ethical Analysis of Assisted Euthanasia
Alicia Anderson
Nataliya Cuna
Tatyana Kovalevsky-Ziemelis
Dwight Lyles
Francis Njoku
Grand Canyon University
NRS 437V
November 5, 2014
An Ethical Analysis of Assisted Euthanasia
Voluntary and assisted euthanasia is not a new phenomenon. End of life care for long term, short term, and terminal illnesses has always occurred. However, with advances in medicine, patients’ lives may be lengthened. For many individuals, end of life care is paired with pain and suffering. Does it have to be this way? If an individual has the capacity to make their own medical decisions, and wants to end their life, should we as health care providers deny them this? We can consider suicide as self-determined …show more content…
Autonomy is the agreement to respect another’s right to self-determine a course of action (ANA, n.d.). Based on this ethical principle, patients have the right to voluntary/assisted euthanasia. In a situation where the patient cannot make the decision, the law in the country allows a person appointed by the patient to decide for the patient. Ethical relativism and feminist ethical theories consider morality on the context of a situation. What is morally acceptable is subjective and depends on the person or culture. These theories tend to support the old saying that the person who wears the shoes knows where they pinch. Feminist theories ask how an action affects the person, the family, and those depending upon one another. Whereas ethical relativism believes that what is morally right or wrong varies from person to person or from society to society (ANA, …show more content…
Euthanasia, assisted suicide, and aid in dying. . Retrieved from http://www.nursingworld.org/euthanasiaanddying
ANA. (n.d.). Short definitions of ethical principles and theories familiar words, what do they mean? Retrieved on November 4, 2014, from http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/EthicsStandards/Resources/Ethics-Definitions.pdf
American Nurses Association (n.d.). Retired ANA position statement: Assisted suicide. Retrieved on October 31, 2014, from http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/EthicsStandard/Ethics-Position-Statements/prtetsuic14456.html
Code of Virginia (n.d.). Virginia legislature-injunction against assisted suicide; damages; professional sanctions 8.01-622.1 D. Retrieved on October 30, 2014, from http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+8.01-622.1
Dees, M., Vernoonij-Dassen, M., Dekkers, W., & Van Wheel, C. (2010). Review unbearable suffering of patients with a request for euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide: An integrative review. Psycho-Oncology, 19(4), 339-352.
Oregon Health Authority (1997). Death with dignity act. Retrieved on Oct 31, 2014, from
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