Moral agency and spirituality in palliative care.

Abstract

Moral agency is a prerequisite for a full autonomous decision, meaning that the agents have the intrinsic capacity to understand their actions and to be accountable for the consequences of these actions. Palliative care patients have the moral right to build their capacity to decide, so that they are truly empowered to make choices. However, moral and spiritual distress are common at the end-of-life, which may arise if there is a threat to the individual's integrity and disruption of one's belief system, consequently leading to the deterioration of the patient's moral agency. The aim of this paper is to determine if spirituality may be an important tool for the empowerment of palliative care patients and if moral agency can be enhanced by a diligent spiritual advocate. Spiritual awareness, self-knowledge, and specific training are key elements for the spiritual advocate to address patients' spiritual needs and distress in a neutral and non-directive way, to promote autonomy, well-being, and quality of life. Thus, patients' dignity and right for self-determination are respected, thereby supporting empowerment, reducing suffering, respecting patients' individuality, and engaging moral agency. Palliative care patients should be able to fully exercise their autonomy. This strategy might be very appealing for adequate advance care planning, whatever the choices of the patient, as well as to prevent distress, hopelessness, and the lack of meaning that many terminal patients experience.