Transcript Physician Assisted Suicide & Euthanasia in the Uk

ETHICAL DECISION MAKING &
ASSISTED SUICIDE:
NO EASY ANSWERS
Jo Fernandes: Practice Development Nurse
Hospice of St Francis
June 2012
AIMS
The law
 Helpful guidelines / theory
 Public influences
 Case studies

Current UK law
1961 Suicide Act remains unchanged
↡
Assisting in someone’s suicide = ILLEGAL
Policy for
Prosecutors in
Respect of Cases of
Encouraging or
Assisting Suicide
February 2010
“Let me make it clear; only parliament can
change the criminal law…. So the critical
question I have considered is; what are the
circumstances in which it is or is not in the
public interest to prosecute a person who
assists in another’s suicide”
www.telegraph.co.uk
23/09/09
16 FACTORS IN FAVOUR OF
PROSECUTION
“We are proud of
the way we
temper justice
with mercy”
Starmer 09
“An act by
which the
Doctor’s
primary
intention is to
bring about a
patient’s
death would
be unlawful”
“it is for the law lords to
decide the law of the
land”
June 2011
CONCLUSION

“The commission has concluded that it is possible
to devise a legal framework that would set out
strictly defined circumstances in which
terminally ill people could be assisted to die,
while providing upfront safeguards to protect
potentially vulnerable people. It must be a
matter for parliament to decide on behalf of our
society as a whole whether to implement such a
framework
PUBLIC SUPPORT
“Submission to the
commission on
Assisted dying”
April 2011

Reinforces ethos of hospice and palliative care :
“intends to neither hasten nor postpone death”
NURSES BULLIED NURSES AND SOME
BULLIED PATIENTS. OTHER
Sunday 26.06.11
EXHAUSTED NURSES WOULD BE IN
TEARS BECAUSE THEY COULD NOT
GIVE BASIC CARE
“The Killing
Wards”
June 13th 2011
ETHICAL THEORY
Burden
Benefit
BEAUCHAMP AND CHILDRESS
Beneficence
Nonmaleficence
Autonomy
Justice
THE FOUR PRINCIPLES


Do NOT provide a method for choosing
Do provide a common moral language and a
common set of moral issues…
CASE STUDY 1
“If my symptoms get
worse I’d rather be dead,
so I’m going to take an
overdose with those pain
killers you’ve prescribed
me”
Intense level of
distress conveyed to
HCP
Exploration of
despair/ vulnerability
Desire
for
Death
Breaking
confidentia
lity
Protocols
blunt
instruments
Time
Desire for
death changes
NO EASY ANSWERS