Why doctors and nurses must not kill patients.

Abstract

Euthanasia continues to be a subject of lively interest to many groups in society. It is often discussed in terms which appeal to those who believe there is no other way to relieve the sufferings of the dying, but which fail to explore its important ethical, professional and legal aspects. When these are examined, it is seen that the legalization of euthanasia would create major problems in medicine and nursing, chiefly centred on the likelihood of abuse and the difficulty or impossibility of its detection. It is now known from official sources that in Holland, the only place where euthanasia is widely practised though in defiance of the law, the authorities have no control over it, and it is indeed associated with many abuses, including the frequent killing of persons without their consent.