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Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide Are Compatible with Palliative Care and Are Not Rendered Redundant by It

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2023

Thomas D. Riisfeldt Open the ORCID record for Thomas D. Riisfeldt [Opens in a new window]
Thomas D. Riisfeldt*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
*
Email: ThomasDavid.Riisfeldt@health.nsw.gov.au
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Abstract

It is often argued by health professionals working within the field of palliative care that palliative care and euthanasia/assisted suicide are incompatible. Across the literature, this claim is grounded on the three claims that (1) palliative care and euthanasia/assisted suicide have different aims, (2) euthanasia/assisted suicide is at odds with the doctor’s fundamental role as a healer, and (3) euthanasia/assisted suicide constitutes patient abandonment. Furthermore, even if palliative care and euthanasia/assisted suicide are compatible, it is often argued that the availability of palliative care renders euthanasia/assisted suicide redundant. This depends on two claims that (1) palliative care is always available and effective, and (2) palliative care is always preferable to euthanasia/assisted suicide. This article argues that all of these claims are false, ultimately aiming to establish that palliative care and euthanasia/assisted suicide are complementary rather than mutually exclusive.

Keywords

euthanasiaassisted suicidepalliative caredoctor as healerpatient abandonment
Type
Departments and Columns
Information
Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics , Volume 32 , Issue 2 , April 2023 , pp. 254 - 262
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

Notes

1. I have deliberately not defined the terms “euthanasia” and “assisted suicide” since there is considerable disagreement amongst interlocutors as to what the correct definitions of the terms actually are, and as to whether or not certain nonparadigm cases constitute euthanasia or assisted suicide. This is a topic for another essay. For the purposes of this essay, it will suffice to focus on the aforementioned paradigm cases. It is also important to note that “informed consent” implies that the patient has sufficient decision-making capacity and that the decision has been made free from any coercion.

2. This premise could of course be contended, although this is also a topic for another essay.

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4. For the sake of brevity, in the rest of this essay, I will refer only to euthanasia, although the same arguments apply equally to assisted suicide unless otherwise stated.

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8. See note 6, Materstvedt, Bosshard 2009, at 316.

9. See note 5, Australian and New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine 2014.

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11. See note 6, Materstvedt, Bosshard 2009, at 316.

12. See note 3, American Medical Association 2016.

13. See note 3, British Medical Association 2017.

14. See note 5, Rabow, Pantilat 2013, at Sec. 4.1.2, Para. 2.

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22. See note 5, Rabow, Pantilat 2013, at Sec. 4.1.3, Para. 3.

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24. See note 3, Australian and New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine 2017.

25. See note 5, Australian and New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine 2014.

26. See note 5, Australian and New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine 2014.

27. See note 3, Australian and New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine 2017.

28. See note 3, Palliative Care Australia 2016.

29. See note 5, Australian and New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine 2014.

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31. Australian Medical Association. Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide; 2016; available at https://ama.com.au/position-statement/euthanasia-and-physician-assisted-suicide-2016 (last accessed 11 Mar 2018).

32. See note 3, Australian and New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine 2017.

33. See note 23, Young 2010.

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36. See note 34, Charland 2011.

37. See note 5, Australian Medical Association 2014; See note 3, British Medical Association 2009; See note 23, Young 2010.

38. Jaworska A. Advance directives and substitute decision-making. In: Zalta EN, ed. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford: Stanford University; 2009; available at http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2009/entries/advance-directives/ (last accessed 11 Mar 2018). Note that ACDs originated as legal tools to be used in the context of permanent comas and persistent vegetative states. In this setting, ACDs are very successful; however, for the aforementioned reasons, they are less suited to dementia.

39. This is one of the reasons for preferring assisted suicide to euthanasia; however, comparing the pros and cons of euthanasia versus assisted suicide lies beyond the scope of this essay.

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48. See note 3, American Medical Association 2016.

49. See note 40, Kirklin 2009, at 1605.

50. See note 6, Materstvedt, Bosshard 2009, at 315.

51. See note 5, Rabow, Pantilat 2013, at Sec. 4.1.6, Para. 1.

52. See note 35, Hendry et al. 2013, at 14, 21; See note 23, Jonsen at al. 2010, at 151.

53. See note 6, Materstvedt, Bosshard 2009, at 315.

54. See note 6, Materstvedt, Bosshard 2009, at 315.