Palliative Carers Are Intrinsic to Euthanasia
Monday, June 06, 2011
Palliative care workers are intrinsically involved in the euthanasia debate. In the event that euthanasia is legalised in Australia, palliative care workers will become the most involved in hastening a person's death.
According to Australia’s peak body for aid-in-dying law reform, YourLastRight.com, access to quality palliative care should be intrinsically tied with the availability of legal physician-assisted dying for terminally ill Australians.
However, says YourLastRight.com chairman and CEO Neil Francis, palliative care providers will have the option to refuse any participation in hastening a patient's demise. “One of the important ethical factors in providing choice for patients who want to request voluntary euthanasia, is that there is also a choice for the health [or aged] care worker who declines to participate," says Mr. Francis. "Providing choice is important for palliative and other healthcare workers. If their world views are such that voluntary euthanasia is a travesty to them, then they should have the right to not participate.”
According to Mr. Francis, hastening a person's death will not come down to one individual; rather, he says, ending someone's life will be carried out by a multidisciplinary team of medical and care professionals that largely includes palliative care staff.
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