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Previous Volume 334:1374-1379 May 23, 1996 Number 21 Next

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ABSTRACT

Background Euthanasia and assisted suicide have received considerable attention recently in medical literature, public discussion, and proposed state legislation. Almost all the discussion in this area has focused on the role of physicians. However, nurses — especially critical care nurses — may be in a special position to understand the wishes of patients and to act on this understanding.

Methods I mailed a survey to 1600 critical care nurses in the United States, asking them to describe anonymously any requests from patients, family members or others acting for patients (surrogates), or physicians to perform euthanasia or assisted suicide, as well as their own practices.

Results Of the 1139 nurses who responded (71 percent), 852 said they practiced exclusively in intensive care units for adults in the United States. Of these 852 nurses, 141 (17 percent) reported that they had received requests from patients or family members to perform euthanasia or assist in suicide; 129 (16 percent of those for whom data were available) reported that they had engaged in such practices; and an additional 35 (4 percent) reported that they had hastened a patient's death by only pretending to provide life-sustaining treatment ordered by a physician. Some nurses reported engaging in these practices without the request or advance knowledge of physicians or others. The method of euthanasia most commonly described was the administration of a high dose of an opiate to a terminally ill patient.

Conclusions As public debate continues about euthanasia and assisted suicide, some critical care nurses in the United States are engaging in such practices.

Source Information

From the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the Division of General Internal Medicine, Center for Bioethics, and Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

Address reprint requests to Dr. Asch at 317 Ralston House, 3615 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19104-2676.

Full Text of this Article

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The Role of Critical Care Nurses in Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide
Dunn P. A., Szaflarski N. L., Clochesy J. M., Leiser R. J., Mitchell T. F., Hahn J. A., Abrams D. I., Hoyt J. W., Harvey M. A., Wlody G. S., Asch D. A., Scanlon C.
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N Engl J Med 1996; 335:971-974, Sep 26, 1996. Correspondence

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