I've seen a terminal cancer patient breathe her last after the nurse (with doctor authorization) overrode the safeties on the infusion system to give her an ove

I've seen a terminal cancer patient breathe her last after the nurse (with doctor authorization) overrode the safeties on the infusion system to give her an overdose of painkillers. She wasn't ever getting out of that room alive, and everybody knew it. She died with her family and loved ones at her side. I think what a lot of people (in America) may not understand about the national euthanasia discussion is that in the absence of firm policy, we don't have no euthanasia; we have ad-hoc, case-by-case, absolutely-functionally-necessary euthanasia. The notion that doctors can always do no harm is a polite fantasy that blinds people to the messy realities near the boundary of human life and death. Similarly to the abortion question, end-of-life euthanasia is something people find medically necessary sometimes, and in the absence of a society-wide consensus that allows for it, doctors, nurses, and patients are left doing the best they can and bearing the moral responsibilities alone. Unlike the abortion question, absolutely everyone is going to be in a place where they are either caring for someone who is dying or dying themselves.