Ethical Positions of Physician-Assisted Suicide / Withholding or Withdrawing Life-Sustaining Treatment in Patients with a Terminal Illness

Many people see healthcare as something to save a life or aid in helping the ill feel better, but they don’t see it as also something to help end a life. Often, we don’t think about physician-assisted suicide (PAS) or withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment (WWLST) as an option when it comes to taking care of our health. PAS, also known as Death with Dignity, is “when a physician facilitates a patient’s death by providing the necessary means or information to enable the patient to perform the life-ending act.” This presentation will evaluate the justifications for PAS and WWLST, such as whether patients benefit from an intervention to cause death, whether there is or there is not an ethically significant distinction between PAS and WWLST, and whether it is “morally acceptable or unacceptable to intentionally cause death.”

Adrian Nava, Nursing ‘21

Adrian and his family moved from the Philippines to the United States when he was six years old. He is the second eldest out of four children and is also an identical twin. He is the first in the family to attend college. He hopes to be a good example for his siblings and to inspire them to pursue higher education, an opportunity his parents never had in the United States. Pursuing higher education was a challenge for Adrian. He worked full-time to support himself financially through community college. Learning to balance his time for work and school was a maze of its own, but he managed to get himself through community college to earn his Associate of Arts degree. Adrian values his education. He has worked and volunteered at many health organizations and has developed a passion for community health. He saw many underrepresented families in the healthcare system. His goal as a future nurse is to advocate for the underrepresented people in our community, especially those who cannot access proper healthcare. He will be continuing the road of higher education to pursue his Doctor of Nursing Practice degree as a Family Nurse Practitioner. He wants to further educate families, especially those in minority groups, on how to stay well and live a healthy life.