Behind+The+Mask+of+Compassion+&+Mercy+Killing

American Nurses Association (ANA). Euthanasia, Assisted Suicide, and Aid in Dying. April 24,2013. Web. nursingworld.org. June 15, 2016.

A different type of compassion and mercy killing by nurses is masked behind euthanasia, assisted suicide, and aid in dying advocates. This blurs the lines of how to decipher which is which due to the complexity of each. The ANA is very adamant about the standard of nursing and anyone in the profession. Though physician assisted suicide is widely becoming more accepted and the practice of nurse assisted suicide is prevalent and being crammed down the throats of the entire profession to be immortalized, the ANA does not advocate for or permit nurses to participate in such practices as euthanasia, assisted suicide, or aid in dying. It is against their code of ethics. Their stance is that nurses are to humane, comprehensive and compassionate care that respects the patient’s rights, but upholds the profession’s standards in the presence of chronic, debilitating illness, and at the end-of-life. The whole goal of the ANA is to continue to improve the mental, physical, spiritual, and ethical well-being of patients and nurses. A strong history is provided in this reading outlining nursing and the practice of it from its onset, its organic evolution and adaptation into each century while adjusting the standards according to the needs of patients and their care while learning new techniques, continuing education, and growing in wisdom throughout the times and raging battles of new, incurable, and diabolical diseases. Perusing the ANA’s fierce pursuit of excellence, values, and strength in patient care, gives the reader and nurses a sense of hope to cure death’s negative effects on the individual nurse shining a brighter light into the overcast shadow of darkness trying to infiltrate such a noble profession. This article brings the honor, sacrifice, and heroism back to life in the midst of death in nursing. I am going to use this in the research paper to depict how applying proven standards for certain practices in specific fields do work, can be, and are successful, if and when followed. Enforcing these counter measures against psychological and personal influences assist the professional in streamlining their influence back to why they are nurses in the first place, not God. These boundaries are in place to keep people from applying their own thinking, logic, medical authority and education, views, beliefs, and inabilities along with abilities to discern, assess, and decide another person’s fate, treatments, or final outcomes of their life, let alone emotional, physical, and mental state of mind or health. Highlighting true nursing practices and organizations that strongly support and advocate for regulation, continued education, consistent and relevant psychological testing and assessing, reliable accountability, and more frequent evaluations of the nursing performances and professional capability, show a marked increase in nurses overall love and passion for the quality of life, their jobs, and how to cope with death from a more positive and fulfilling way based on the fact that the nurses did their jobs according to the highest standards and doing the best they could. These organizations and standards also reflected a decrease in depression, anxiety, anger, and the negative effects of death when the standards were closely followed and monitored. Nurses are becoming more involved in disease control, treatments, medical decision making, and care for patients in every area of their health care and maintenance. The highest and most effective standards need to be in place and governed at the same levels.