Ethics and Physician-Assisted Suicide: International Perspectives
Physician-assisted suicide is on the forefront of concerns for social work professionals working on end-of-life-issues. There are no universal policies on physician-assisted suicide. Exploring international perspectives is imperative to understanding policy ethical dilemmas that can occur.
Professionals are faced with the challenge of resolving dilemmas through ethically sound practice. Every professional has their own set of personal and professional ethics. The conflict and ethical dilemmas come into play when professional ethics are at odds and personal values and morals are also in conflict with the many professional ethics and values within multidisciplinary teams. How than can professionals, agencies, and organizations meet the need s of their clients? It is through ethical decision making models that professionals must successfully meet the needs of clients through ethical competence.
This oral presentation will provide resources to participants to assist in the resolution of ethical dilemmas This presentation will be based on social work experience in hospice, outpatient geriatric clinic, and intermediate care facilities and research based on the paper entitled, Ethical Implications of Euthanasia in Social Work Practice. The presentation will be presented from the view of gerontological social work practice and the implications for current and future practice in end of life care decisions for the ageing.
The practice model described in the oral presentation will be based on the ethical decision model outlined by F. G. Reamer, Social Work Values and Ethics.
Reamer outlines an ethical decision model used in social work practice when faced with ethical dilemmas. This model explores theoretical frameworks based on the conflict of personal and professional values and ethics. The presentation will include the exploration of Reamer (1999) model's applicability in social work practice.