Nurses’ involvement in the care of patients requesting euthanasia: a review of the literature

Nele Del Bal, Chris Gastmans, Bernadette Dierckx de Casterlé

Nurses' involvement in the care of patients requesting euthanasia: a review of the literature
International Journal of Nursing Studies

Abstract
OBJECTIVES: The aim of this paper is to thoroughly examine the involvement and experiences of nurses in the care of mentally competent, adult patients requesting euthanasia (i.e. administration of lethal drugs by someone other than the person concerned with the explicit intention of ending a patient’s life, at the latter’s explicit request) by means of a literature review. . .
CONCLUSIONS: Nurses can make a significant contribution to the quality of care by assisting and counseling patients and their families, physicians, and their nursing colleagues in a professional manner, even in countries where euthanasia is not legal. However, research on nurses’ involvement in euthanasia has methodological and terminological problems,leading to our recommendation for more carefully designed qualitative studies that explore in-depth the experiences of nurses in caring for patients requesting euthanasia.


Bal ND, Gastmans C, de Casterlé BD. Nurses’ involvement in the care of patients requesting euthanasia: a review of the literature. Int J Nurs Studies. 2008;45(4):626-644.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *