Practitioner-Assisted Suicide

Health care professionals and patient advocacy groups on both sides of the issue are debating the ethics of PAS. Also called physician-assisted suicide, this is a form of active euthanasia in which a health care provider takes an active role in ending a patient’s life. Two cases, Vacco v Quill and Washington v Glucksberg, were brought before the U.S. Supreme Court regarding the legality of state bans on assisted suicide. The Supreme Court ruled in 1997 that there is no constitutional right to assisted suicide. This ruling allows each state to decide whether to legalize or ban assisted suicides. The ANA has taken a firm stand on the issue of PAS, holding that PAS is not consistent with the philosophy of nursing. ANA’s specific objections to PAS are based on the principle of nonmaleficence, to do no harm, and beneficence, the duty to protect life.

In 1944, the ANA adopted a position statement concerning PAS. The ANA wrote that such an act is in violation of the Code of Ethics for Nurses and the ethical tradition of the profession. Nurses have an obligation to provide compassionate end-of-life care that includes providing comfort and pain relief. Proponents of PAS, however, cite the ethical principles of the right to autonomy and the right to self-determination in support of their position.