UK College of Nursing Has Head In Sand

Academic calls for re-think on UK euthanasia policy, Nov. 25, 2007

A leading academic has called on the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) to rethink its position on euthanasia and assisted suicide, accusing the college of 'burying its head in the sand'.

Professor Martin Johnson from the School of Nursing at the University of Salford said that 80 per cent of people [in Britain] were in favour of changing the law on euthanasia.

"The RCN's statement that it is against euthanasia and assisted suicide is an example of policy without evidence.

In a context of wanting to reassure the public that nurses will not easily resort to killing their patients this may be understandable. But genuine evidence flies in the face of such fear," Professor Johnson said.

The RCN said it would be premature to lend its support to assisted dying before the NHS had improved end-of-life care.

HealthcareRepublic.com

DWDV Comment

The RCN's position is not based on evidence, which is disappointing given that nursing care should first and foremost be based on science rather than faith or gratuitious opinion.

RCN's claim that support for physician assisted dying would be premature before the NHS had improved end-of-life care is both nonsensical and false.

Firstly, improvement to end-of-life care is an ongoing initiative and will never cease. The RCN, like all groups fundamentally opposed to PAS, never define a standard of care that can be achieved that would obviate the need for PAS. Groups should be challenged on this notion.

Secondly, it implies that palliative care would suffer if PAS were legalised. However, clear empirical evidence from jurisdictions that allow PAS show that the availability of PAS does not hinder the improvement of palliative care practices at all. Indeed, it can promote quality because doctors are forced to understand good palliative care practice in order to advise patients of all options.