Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide Are Compatible with Palliative Care and Are Not Rendered Redundant by It

Area of Science:

• Medical Ethics
• Palliative Care Research
• End-of-Life Care Studies

Background:

• Palliative care professionals frequently assert that palliative care and euthanasia/assisted suicide are mutually exclusive.
• This view is supported by arguments concerning differing aims, the physician's role, and patient abandonment.
• The perceived redundancy of euthanasia/assisted suicide due to palliative care availability is also contested.

Purpose of the Study:

• To critically evaluate the arguments claiming incompatibility between palliative care and euthanasia/assisted suicide.
• To challenge the notion that palliative care renders euthanasia/assisted suicide unnecessary.
• To establish that palliative care and euthanasia/assisted suicide can be complementary.

Main Methods:

• Literature review and critical analysis of existing arguments.
• Examination of the ethical and practical claims underpinning the incompatibility thesis.
• Analysis of the relationship between palliative care's availability, effectiveness, and patient preference.

Main Results:

• The article refutes the claims that palliative care and euthanasia/assisted suicide have fundamentally different aims.
• It argues that euthanasia/assisted suicide does not inherently conflict with the physician's role as a healer.
• The assertion that palliative care makes euthanasia/assisted suicide redundant is shown to be based on flawed assumptions about palliative care's universal availability and preference.

Conclusions:

• Palliative care and euthanasia/assisted suicide are not mutually exclusive but can be complementary.
• The arguments for their incompatibility and the redundancy of assisted dying are critically dismantled.
• A more integrated approach to end-of-life care, encompassing both palliative support and assisted dying options, is advocated.