Introduction
One of the key issues affecting the nursing profession today relates to the idea of providing patients suffering from terminals illnesses with an opportunity of having to die with the dignity that they deserve. That creates the need for having to come up with a legislation that would help in the legalization of euthanasia. Euthanasia refers to the process in which a health care professional assists his or her patient to die within the confines of the set legal policies and code of conduct in the nursing profession (Lavoie, Godin, Vézina-Im, Blondeau, Martineau, & Roy, 2016). However, one of the key challenges associated with usage of euthanasia especially when dealing with the elderly is that the law, implemented within some states, does not create a provision for euthanasia. Thus, this means that health care professionals find it challenging to engage in euthanasia due to the disposition within the confines of the law.
Problem Statement
A review of recent demographics, not only within the United States but also in other countries around the world, indicates that a big percentage of the population is approaching the age of 65 years (Enke, Meyer, & Flor, 2016). That acts as a clear indication that a big percentage of the population is approaching an age that requires them to seek the necessary health care that would help them deal with some of the health challenges arising due to old age. That also brings to question the element of legality when dealing with patients, within this particular age bracket, that would find it hard to seek the necessary health care services. In addition, this also raises the question on whether it would be essential to come up with a legal framework that would allow such patients to die with the dignity that they deserve due to the element of diseases associated with age.
Justification
The concept of eliminating the provision that allows for euthanasia only creates a situation where some health professionals tend to engage in the same without any form of limitation. Radbruch et al (2015) argue that although some of the states have not implemented laws on euthanasia, it is evident that a big number of health care professionals tend to engage in the same especially in cases where patients request for the professionally assisted deaths. In such cases, the government may find it hard or challenging in trying to regulate the drugs or medication used in the process of assisted deaths. However, legalization of euthanasia may create a provision where the government would be in a position to spell out some of the key aspects to consider before deciding on legally assisted deaths. Some of these aspects to consider include the age and disease of the patient that must provide the expected justification to engage in legally assisted deaths.
Recommendations
Based on the justification of the issue, highlighted and discussed above, it is evident that the issue of euthanasia creates a major hurdle for both the federal and state governments in trying to define the legal processes that would govern the same. However, legalization of euthanasia may create a situation where nurses and other health professionals understand what is expected of them when dealing with legally assisted deaths. In addition, legalization would also help towards creating specific provisions that allow for better quality of medication used in the legally assisted deaths. That would help in reducing the occurrence of deaths that may cause unnecessary pain for the patient due to the process of legally assisted deaths. In addition, that would also help in preventing cases where some of these cases may be prevented attributed to effective treatment of the diseases that patients may consider as being terminal.
References
Enke, M., Meyer, P., & Flor, H. (2016). From Memory to Attitude: The Neurocognitive Process beyond Euthanasia Acceptance. PloS One, 11(4), 1-17.
Lavoie, M., Godin, G., Vézina-Im, L. A., Blondeau, D., Martineau, I., & Roy, L. (2016). Psychosocial determinants of nurses’ intention to practise euthanasia in palliative care. Nursing ethics, 23(1), 48-60.
Radbruch, L. et al (2015). Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide: A white paper from the European Association for Palliative Care. Palliative Medicine, 30(2), 104-116.
