Death with dignity is a controversial topic amongst healthcare workers and people across the country. Personally, I think that if someone who is terminally ill and wants to pass on their own terms with their loved ones, then they should be able to. Some people say that it is not humane nor ethical for a healthcare provider to prescribe a medication that ends someone’s life, but neither is letting them continue to suffer when you know they are in chronic pain and they will not get any better. Personally, if I were to suffer from a terminal illness and I knew that I only had a limited amount of time left, I would want to pass with all of my loved ones present. I think that would not only help me, but also help in the grieving process of loved ones. Obviously losing a loved one is never easy, and grief is something that everyone has to deal with in life, but I think it can be comforting to the family to know that the individual got to have their last wishes fulfilled and to be with them in those final moments of life. 

I completely understand the other viewpoint regarding death with dignity. Some people believe that by prescribing a drug that ends someone’s life to a patient, that the healthcare provider is actually going against the nonmaleficence and do no harm act. And I can see how this can challenge the ethical principles of nurses, as previously I used to have similar opinions before I had learned more about the Death with Dignity act. I had trouble comprehending the fact that nurses and doctors could give a medication to a patient knowingly that it will end their life. At first, I was confused because I thought that patient’s safety was priority of healthcare professionals and administering a medication that will end their life was definitely not keeping the patient safe. Although, after watching How to Die in Oregon I realized that patient safety encompasses a wide variety of aspects instead of previously thinking it was more black and white, and keeping the patient away from something that will kill them or not. Patient safety however encompasses their emotional, mental, and spiritual wellbeing, not only physical. How to Die in Oregon perfectly demonstrated this in the film, and that in a lot of cases the patient knowing that they will die soon and not be able to control it is a lot more harmful than the actual disease processes itself. While reading Patient Rights at the End of Life – the Ethics of Aid in Dying, they stated, “Each dying patient’s case should be approached in an individual and patient-centered fashion…” and that the Death with Dignity act “…serves to recognize the dying patient’s individual tights to self-determination of preserving his or her dignity during the end-of-life process” (Smith and Burton, 2020). I think this statement reflects that nurses and doctors have a responsibility to help their patients in more ways than physical, and that may be helping them emotionally and spiritually by helping them preserve their dignity during their final stages of life.