The role of psychiatric consultation liaison nurses in ethical decisions to remove life-sustaining treatments

This article proposes a deliberative nursing process for ethical decisions about the withdrawal of life-saving treatments from terminally ill patients. It highlights the role of the psychiatric consultation liaison nurse in facilitating this process and the growing need for an expanded nursing role, presents relevant ethical theory and principles, and introduces a paradigm for such ethical decisions. As medical technology and life-saving equipment continue to proliferate, the psychiatric consultation liaison nurse can become increasingly involved in assisting all health care providers in the essential professional role of helping patients and families to make these ethical decisions.