NURSES DEFINITIONS OF AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS EUTHANASIA

A major impetus for this study was recent literature that assumed that nurses' definitions of euthanasia and consequent opinions on decision making are unproblamatic. The purpose of this study was to identify n urses' definitions of and attitudes towards euthanasia. Ten semi-struc tured interviews were conducted with nurses working in a variety of cl inical practice settings. The majority of nurses could distinguish bet ween active and passive euthanasia, but it was only in terms of active euthanasia that the debate was seen as significant. It was considered that the term passive euthanasia, particularly in relation to withdra wal of treatment, has served to confuse the real debate centring aroun d active euthanasia. Only two participants were in favour of active eu thanasia, but emphasized the need for 'a community of shared responsib ility' in decision making. The major finding of the study was the comm itment of all participants to caring for and ensuring the comfort of t he dying patient. The concepts of ordinary and extraordinary forms of treatment and heroic measures were seen as worthy of debate in the con text of dying with dignity rather than of euthanasia. There was an ass ociated aversion to inappropriate heroic measures, which were perceive d as prolonging death and interfering with 'dying with dignity'. The d evelopment of a personal and moral/ethical stance (in relation to euth anasia) was shown to be an evolving process embedded in a caring philo sophy and emphasizing the contextual nature of providing appropriate c are.