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…
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