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Ethical Dilemmas II

Ethical Dilemmas II

Resolving an ethical dilemma in healthcare involves a systematic approach that considers every aspect of the issue, respecting both the patient's needs and values and the healthcare professional's ethical obligations. Here are potential steps to resolve an ethical dilemma:

Ethical Issues

Ethical Issues

Nurses are essential in patient care, upholding the ethical principles of their profession and effectively navigating ethical dilemmas. Neglecting ethical issues can lead to inadequate patient care, compromised therapeutic relationships, and moral distress among healthcare workers.
Ethical Concerns in Healthcare:

Kubler Ross's Stages of Dying

Kubler Ross's Stages of Dying

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross significantly advanced psychology's understanding of the process of dying with her influential book, On Death and Dying (1969). She focused on studying terminally ill individuals and outlined five stages commonly experienced when coping with death: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.
In denial, individuals reject the reality of their condition, often thinking, "This isn't true; I feel fine," as a way to protect themselves from emotional distress. Anger...

Classification of Illness

Classification of Illness

The meaning of illness is individualized to each person who experiences an alteration in health. In contrast, disease is a medical term indicating a pathological change in the structure and function of the body or mind. It is a condition that has specific symptoms and boundaries.
An illness is a response to a disease in which the person's level of functioning is changed compared with a previous level. The general classification of illness includes acute and chronic.
Acute illness is severe and...

Continuing Care

Continuing Care

Continuing care describes the variety of health, personal, and social services provided over a prolonged period. The need for continuing care is increasing because people are living longer. Many people do not have families or others to care for them. Continuing care is mainly for patients who are disabled, functionally dependent, or suffering from a terminal disease. It is available within institutional settings or in homes. Examples include nursing centers or facilities, assisted living,...

Nursing Ethical Principles II

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Ethical principles are essential in guiding nurses to fulfill their responsibilities, focusing on the quality of nursing care and decision-making. These principles, including autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, justice, and fidelity, shape the ethical framework within healthcare settings.
Consider the following scenario, which illustrates how these principles are applied in the care of Mr. John, a fifty-year-old teacher diagnosed with metastatic liver cancer.
Initially, Mr. John's cancer...

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Updated: Jul 11, 2026

Double Direct Injection of Blood into the Cisterna Magna as a Model of Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

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Published on: August 30, 2020

Illness, suffering and voluntary euthanasia.

Jukka Varelius¹

¹Department of Philosophy, University of Turku, FIN-20014 University of Turku, Finland. varelius@hotmail.com

|September 12, 2007

Summary

Voluntary euthanasia discussions often focus on the incurably ill. This article argues that moral considerations for voluntary euthanasia should extend beyond those suffering from illness or injury.

Area of Science:

Bioethics
Medical Ethics
Philosophy of Medicine

Background:

Current ethical discourse on voluntary euthanasia predominantly centers on individuals experiencing incurable illness or injury.
This narrow focus raises questions about the inclusivity of moral evaluations in end-of-life decisions.

Purpose of the Study:

To challenge the conventional limitation of voluntary euthanasia discussions to patients with incurable diseases or injuries.
To argue for a broader moral consideration of voluntary euthanasia that is not solely contingent on suffering from illness or injury.

Main Methods:

Philosophical argumentation
Ethical analysis
Conceptual clarification

Main Results:

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The article posits that restricting voluntary euthanasia solely to the incurably ill lacks sufficient moral justification.
It suggests that the moral permissibility of voluntary euthanasia can be considered independently of a person's health status or the presence of suffering due to illness.

Conclusions:

The moral acceptability of voluntary euthanasia should not be exclusively tied to conditions of incurable disease or injury.
Ethical frameworks for end-of-life choices need to accommodate a wider range of circumstances beyond medical suffering.