Filenews 5 December 2022 - by Marios Demetriou
The Cyprus Association of Nurses and Midwives (PASYNM) should support all efforts to regulate euthanasia, assisted suicide by health professionals and assisted death by health professionals, argues the majority (47%) of the members of the Association who took part in a survey by the Cyprus National Bioethics Committee within the framework of its responsibilities, to record the attitudes, knowledge and perceptions of the members of the Association on this issue, in collaboration with the Association and the University of Nicosia.
The results were presented by the scientific coordinator of the research, Professor Konstantinos Fellas, senior vice-rector of the University of Nicosia and president of the Cyprus National Bioethics Committee (EEBK), at the 29th Pancyprian Conference on Nursing and Midwifery on "Ensuring health by investing in nursing and obstetrics" that took place on 11 and 12 November 2022 at a hotel in Agros. The survey, which was presented for the first time at the conference, was carried out in the period February and March 2022 through a self-completed questionnaire consisting of 27 questions. As Mr. Fellas mentioned, 520 members of the Association (75% women, 25% men) from all over Cyprus aged 18 to 65 years old participated in the completion of the questionnaire, covering 13 nursing specialties and 15 departments / services.
He said that the majority of respondents (38%) are also in favour of the view that PASYNM. It should support all efforts to change the law to allow doctors to administer relevant medicines to patients who meet the necessary conditions. At the same time, with 49%, participants agree, or rather agree, with the view that it should be possible to apply the euthanasia procedure to people who are suffering, as is the case with animals.
There are many and the undecided...
According to Professor Fellas, "37% of respondents disagree or rather disagree with the view that euthanasia is never morally justified, with 25% not taking a position on the issue. At the same time, with a percentage of 30%, participants support a possible change in the law that would allow doctors to prescribe drugs to patients who meet physical, mental and legal requirements to self-administer and end their lives. In this question, almost 1/3 of the respondents (31%) said that they have not decided which position they still support. Regarding doctors who prescribe medications to patients who meet all the requirements to self-administer and end their lives, the majority of PASYNM members. (38%) have a positive view, with 19% maintaining a neutral view. When asked whether they would agree to participate actively in any way in the process, if euthanasia was legally allowed in the future, 23% of participating nurses and midwives responded positively, while 31% said they did not know or do not want to answer. 30% of respondents said they support a possible change in the law that would allow doctors to prescribe drugs to patients who meet the physical, mental and legal requirements to self-administer and end their lives, while a significant 31% said they have not yet decided. Respondents stated by a percentage (27%) that they would actively participate in a process of administering a relevant drug to eligible patients if this was legally acceptable, while a significant proportion (28%) again chose not to answer."
The role of nurses in the process
Regarding the role of nurses in this process in a future change of legislation, the members of PASYNM. who participated in the survey were able to select more than one proposal for this purpose. 42% support that nurses should be able to provide evidence-based information to patients about the change in legislation, while 31% supported the view that nurses should be able to confirm and clarify in any case, when their own patients meet the criteria for euthanasia, assisted by health professionals, suicide or death. 36% supported the view that nurses should have no formal role in the process.
If there are proposals to change the law in the future to allow doctors to administer medicines to end patients' lives, the view that this possibility should be provided to patients with a physical/physical condition which causes unbearable suffering and which cannot be alleviated, received the highest percentage of support (48%) from the survey participants, with patients with an incurable disease where death is expected within 6 months to follow with a rate of 31%. The members of PASYNM who took part in the survey argue that the right to choose for such a procedure should be granted to all patients who meet all the relevant conditions (31%) and to patients who meet all the relevant conditions, but who are physically unable to self-administer such drugs themselves (29%). At the same time, a high percentage (61%) supported the position that independent nurses should have the right to choose not to participate in this process.
POINT OF VIEW
"Discipleship of death is life"...
"How can we begin to define a legislative framework for euthanasia and an art of 'dying well' if we do not first admit the irrevocability of death?", asked Professor Konstantinos Fellas, addressing the Nursing and Midwifery conference. "What comes close to the essence of Ars Moriendi," he added, "is the humble acceptance of human destiny, human mortality and vulnerability. But to achieve this, we need to reintegrate the way we deal with death into our daily lives. To redefine in our lives, the mourning, the rift, the emptiness, the absence and the suffering. Because as the author Fotini Tsalikoglou tells us, "if we ignore death from our lives, our lives dwindle. Discipleship of death is life.'"
