The Impact of Voluntary Assisted Dying
According to Willmott et al. (2023), with the VAD Act being passed, the legislation has impacted the nursing practice massively as nurses are at the front when providing care and sometimes nurse has to administer VAD if a patient asks for it. Our responsibility includes catering to the patient’s needs, with informed consent and open discussion about end-of-life options. The legality of VAD provides with requirement of being well-informed regarding the standards and criteria the patient must meet to administer VAD, which includes mental assessments and two independent medical opinions (Willmott et al., 2022). Then the dilemma arises of balancing patients' autonomy with the requirements of non-maleficence and beneficence. During all this, the nurse must also take into account what could be the impact on patients' families and the ethical implications of endorsing death as a solution for suffering (Rutherford et al., 2020). In my practices I have seen nurses who do not want to administer VAD as they take it as a form of killing according to their personal beliefs, I often feel conflicted at times regarding the concept of VAD. Then I saw patients who opted for VAD as a dignified means of end rather than living miserably and being an unbearable burden on the people, even then my personal belief clashed with the patient's choice. This dilemma needs to be addressed with ongoing awareness, studies and open dialogue within the nursing community regarding VAD, cultural sensitivity and ethical practices.
