Bestämma tidpunkten för sin död i livets slutskede – en rättighet? : En litteraturöversikt kring sjuksköterskans syn på eutanasi i livets slutskede

Sammanfattning: Background: The word euthanasia provokes many emotions within patients and healthcare professionals. In some countries it’s legal and in others, illegal. During end-of-life caree the nurse meets a lot of patients who are suffering. There are different kinds of suffering, physical, mental, social and existential. Nurse’s role in palliative care is to alleviate suffering and to support relatives. There are many aspects of what kind of problems you face when patients receive end-of-life care. Aim: The aim of the study was to describe euthanasia within end of life care from the nurse’s perspective. Method: A literary review was performed based on previous knowledge and by using five scientific articles with a qualitative design, one mixed method and five quantitative, peer reviewed articles. The articles were researched through the databases Cinahl Complete and Pubmed. Katie Eriksson’s nursing theory was used and her concept of suffering was used to discuss the results. Results: Four themes emerged from the results, Suffering as a reason to end a life, Religion as a reason for resistance, Education and experience and The way to decision. Many different factors affected the nurse’s views on euthanasia, and showed differences between countries where it is legal and illegal. It proved difficult to take a stand for or against euthanasia, as most nurses felt that every individual case was situation-based. Discussion: What emerged in the discussion was that if patients have a good palliative care where they get good relief of symptoms will the question of euthanasia not appear. It turned out interesting that Sweden, a country that is secularized today, was against euthanasia when we discussed religion as one of the reasons for resistance.