Mentor/s
Dr. Sandra Young and Dr. Brian Stiltner
Participation Type
Poster
Abstract
Voluntary Euthanasia, or VE, is a practice which has been medically, and ethically, debated for decades. VE is a medical procedure in which a physician, with the explicit and informed consent of the patient, administers a lethal agent for the purpose of relieving a patients intolerable and incurable suffering (Euthanasia, 2022). The availability of this practice as an option for terminally diagnosed patients, to allow them to choose to die on their own terms, has been debated for its ethicality. Through my research, I strove to answer the question of whether VE fulfills, or contradicts, a physician’s oath to “do no harm”. Currently in the United States, this practice is illegal in all instances, with a few select states having some options of PAS, or physician-assisted suicide, which is deemed by some bioethicists to be a more ethical practice. Through my research on this topic, I found extensive support for both sides of the debate. Ultimately, I concluded that this practice does fulfill a physician’s oath to do no harm and was able to discount many of the main arguments against this practice. The research discussed in this paper has significant implications, as recognizing the therapeutic potential of Voluntary Euthanasia can greatly benefit terminally ill patients, and help give them a dignified death, on their own terms.
College and Major available
Nursing BSN
Location
Digital Commons & West Campus 2nd Floor University Commons
Start Day/Time
4-28-2023 12:00 PM
End Day/Time
4-28-2023 2:00 PM
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.
Prize Categories
Best Multidisciplinary Research or Collaboration, Most Scholarly Impact or Potential, Most Creative, Best Writing
Does Voluntary Euthanasia Fulfill or Contradict a Physicians’ Oath to “Do No Harm”
Digital Commons & West Campus 2nd Floor University Commons
Voluntary Euthanasia, or VE, is a practice which has been medically, and ethically, debated for decades. VE is a medical procedure in which a physician, with the explicit and informed consent of the patient, administers a lethal agent for the purpose of relieving a patients intolerable and incurable suffering (Euthanasia, 2022). The availability of this practice as an option for terminally diagnosed patients, to allow them to choose to die on their own terms, has been debated for its ethicality. Through my research, I strove to answer the question of whether VE fulfills, or contradicts, a physician’s oath to “do no harm”. Currently in the United States, this practice is illegal in all instances, with a few select states having some options of PAS, or physician-assisted suicide, which is deemed by some bioethicists to be a more ethical practice. Through my research on this topic, I found extensive support for both sides of the debate. Ultimately, I concluded that this practice does fulfill a physician’s oath to do no harm and was able to discount many of the main arguments against this practice. The research discussed in this paper has significant implications, as recognizing the therapeutic potential of Voluntary Euthanasia can greatly benefit terminally ill patients, and help give them a dignified death, on their own terms.
Students' Information
Sarah Carr. Bachelors of Science in Nursing, Honors Minor. Class of 2023