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Geriatric Nursing Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

2020

University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

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Full-Text Articles in Geriatric Nursing

Nurses' Attitudes Toward Physician-Assisted Suicide, Cheyenne Star Lowrey-Lagrone Dec 2020

Nurses' Attitudes Toward Physician-Assisted Suicide, Cheyenne Star Lowrey-Lagrone

The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing Undergraduate Honors Theses

Physician-assisted suicide, or PAS, is end-of-life option in which patients self-administer physician-prescribed lethal medication to end their life. Nurses' own interpretations and understandings of the legalities, ethical dilemmas, and factors that influence their attitudes can be analyzed to determine the nurses’ role in the support or opposition of the practice. Although nurses do not have an active role in PAS, they play a pivotal role in patient advocacy and education. This paper analyzes the factors that contribute to nurses’ attitudes toward the practice, along with the benefits of education of this topic going forth.