‘Assisted Dying’: A View of the Legal, Social, Ethical and Clinical Perspectives

The study aimed to describe views on Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD), gleaned through qualitative analysis of participant responses to a set activity, run during the 2018 ‘Dying2Learn’ Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). Data from 508 participants, most of whom identified as health professionals, were analysed using thematic content analysis, and themes generated. A large proportion of participants discussed their personal views related to VAD, specifically around choice, control, dignity, palliative care and dying at home, medical intervention, societal factors, the impact on those left behind, laws and regulations, dying ‘naturally’, advance care directives, and being in pain. In this study, participants had many different views on the act itself, often divisive, but also with common concepts such as respecting the choices and decisions of others.

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Vote on legalising assisted dying in Guernsey is due in months

BMJ ◽

10.1136/bmj.k1342 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. k1342 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Adrian O’Dowd

Keyword(s):

Assisted Dying

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Do Health Service staff support the implementation of Voluntary Assisted Dying at their workplace?

Internal Medicine Journal ◽

10.1111/imj.15285 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

G. Fuscaldo ◽

S.M. Gwini ◽

R. Larsen ◽

A. Venkataramani

Keyword(s):

Health Service ◽

Assisted Dying ◽

Staff Support ◽

Service Staff

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Voluntary assisted dying (VAD) in Australasia and ‘coup de grâce’ in Islam

Australasian Psychiatry ◽

10.1177/10398562211009244 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 103985622110092

Author(s):

Ahmed Naguy

Keyword(s):

Assisted Dying

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Role of attitude in nurses’ responses to requests for assisted dying

Nursing Ethics ◽

10.1177/0969733020966777 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 096973302096677

Author(s):

Michael Wilson ◽

Marie Wilson ◽

Suzanne Edwards ◽

Lynette Cusack ◽

Richard Wiechula

Keyword(s):

Online Survey ◽

Rare Event ◽

Control Beliefs ◽

Assisted Dying ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Assisted Death ◽

Institutional Ethics ◽

The Face ◽

Generalised Linear Modelling ◽

And Control

Background: Legal assisted dying is a rare event, but as legalisation expands, requests for it will likely increase, and the nurse most often receives the informal, initial request. Objectives: To assess the effects of attitude in interaction with normative and control beliefs on an intention to respond to a request for legal assisted dying. Ethical considerations: The study had the lead author’s institutional ethics approval, and participants were informed that participation was both anonymous and voluntary. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional correlational study of 377 Australian registered nurses who completed an online survey. Generalised linear modelling assessed the effects of independent variables against intended responses to requests for legal assisted dying. Results: Compared to nurses who did not support legal assisted dying, nurses who did had stronger beliefs in patient rights, perceived social expectations to refer the request and stronger control in that intention. Nurses who did not support legal assisted dying had stronger beliefs in ethics of duty to the patient and often held dual intentions to discuss the request with the patient but also held an intention to deflect the request to consideration of alternatives. Discussion: This study advances the international literature by developing quantified models explaining the complexity of nurses’ experiences with requests for an assisted death. Attitude was operationalised in interaction with other beliefs and was identified as the strongest influence on intentions, but significantly moderated by ethical norms. Conclusion: The complex of determinants of those intentions to respond to requests for an assisted death suggests they are not isolated from each other. Nurses might have distinct intentions, but they can also hold multiple intentions even when they prioritise one. These findings present opportunities to prepare nurses in a way that enhances moral resilience in the face of complex moral encounters.

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