Physcian-Assisted Suicide: The Last Word on an Ancient Myth

I do not believe a patient has the right to expect a physician to assist in their suicide. Euthanasia is a word associated with animals as mercy killings to stop undesired suffering from injury or illness. I am referring to nonhuman animals that depend on others to perform this act of compassion.

As a nurse, I heard of mercy killings in healthcare facilities but, over the last 30 years, have found it to be extremely rare. One nurse in the 80s concerned me because of her references to how certain patients should not awaken but it was her dark "humor".

I witnessed a man dying of inoperable colon cancer in the last stages. He was sitting in a bedside chair with a very ashen, pale, gaunt appearance with his eyes rolled to the back of his head. He stopped eating days before so he was extremely weak and at times appeared deceased. His arms and legs were very thin but his abdomen was extremely distended obstructed with stool.

In the days before his death, he began expelling stool involuntarily through his mouth. The only thing we had to offer was comfort care and, in his case, I could only try to keep his mouth cleaned and swabbed frequently. He had long before refused surgery and this was the consequence. If he had the strength, I am sure he would have ended it long before the stool started flowing.

I cared for another elderly woman who was a Jehovah witness; she refused a mastectomy for breast cancer and remained at home until the breast opened like a cauliflower emanating the odor of decay that remained in the room for weeks after her death.

When some patients refuse treatment for treatable cancer, I think that can also be construed as suicide. They decided not to fight their cancer, as is their right; it is not my right to aid them in the inevitable. It is their right to receive comfort care and not have to suffer while dying.

My husband's brother died of brain cancer in 1999, at home surrounded by his family and friends. It is so important to have a support system in place. He had pain pills but could not swallow and the hospice nurse did not arrive on time. He did not suffer; actually, I called his a "beautiful death".

I spent 10 years of my nursing career caring for cancer patients, in addition, my mother died from cancer. I do not believe patients need any assistance from physicians when they already have the weapon at hand. Almost all terminally ill patients have narcotics available for an overdose. Why would they need a physician's assistance to place them in their mouth?

If by chance their condition is such that they are unable to or too weak to take their medication independently, then, unfortunately they have lost their opportunity to act on their own desires. I do not see what a physician would have to do in this situation or why it is called physician-assisted suicide.

Even in the 21 century, nurses continue to fear medicating a terminally ill patient for pain if it may hasten their death. This is especially true with this current euthanasia debate. Consequently, patients are suffering from under treated pain and discomfort while dying.

This sad cycle has played out in hospitals for years. Hospice is the best choice for those who want to die with dignity and peacefully. Hospice does not advocate withholding narcotics from a patient in pain. All patients should take their medication as prescribed and if ineffective for the pain, notify the physician as with any other patient in pain.

I am a patient advocate, I wish this euthanasia debate be put to rest, and the medical community can feel comfortable treating pain in the dying patient without it appearing as though they are assisting any type suicide ideations.