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Nurses and National Socialism a Moral Dilemma: one historical example of a route - to euthanasia

Sylvia Anne Hoskins

The Robert Gordon University, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Health and Social Care, Garthdee Campus, Garthdee Road, Aberdeen, AB10 7QG, UK, s.hoskins{at}rgu.ac.uk

If euthanasia were to be made legal in other countries apart from the Netherlands and Belgium, nurses would be faced with ethical dilemmas that could impact on their professional accountability and their personal moral beliefs. As a part of history has demonstrated, the introduction of the practice of euthanasia could also significantly change the relationship between nurses and patients. In Germany between 1940 and 1945, in response to a government directive, nurses participated in the practice of euthanasia and as a result many innocent German people were killed by what were considered to be ‘mercy deaths’. It is important to try and understand the moral thinking and examine the complex issues at this historical junction that led German nurses to participate in the killing of thousands of innocent people. Such reflection may help to stimulate an awareness of the moral issues that nurses in the twenty-first century could confront if euthanasia were to be made legal in their own country. This has implications for future nursing practice.

Key Words: ethics • euthanasia • history of euthanasia • national socialism

Nursing Ethics, Vol. 12, No. 1, 79-91 (2005)
DOI: 10.1191/0969733005ne759oa
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