Does experience affect physicians’ attitude towards assisted suicide? A snapshot of Swedish doctors’ opinions - 01/10/22
Summary |
Introduction |
Assisted dying is a current and controversial topic that seems to be gaining more support among both physicians as well as the general public. This paper aims to provide a snapshot of Swedish physicians’ opinions regarding AS, including their opinion concerning experience and to evaluate whether a correlation between opinion and experience exists.
Material and methods |
A poll was conducted through a panel of members of the Swedish Medical Association. The panel is representative of the association's members regarding age and gender.
Results |
The response rate was 49% Of the respondents 41% stated that AS and/or euthanasia should be legalized. Doctors with great experience in working with dying patients express most strongly against AS and/or euthanasia. More than half of the respondents (54%) stated that AS if it would be legal, should be performed within specific health care units. Approximately the same proportion (48%) were willing to write a statement on health status, knowing that it would be used in decisions regarding AS. Similarly, 44% could not consider performing AS and 27% were indecisive on the question. A majority (41%) thought that a physician should be responsible for approving applications for AS.
Discussion |
A few more physicians express a positive attitude toward AS than against it, but many cannot express a certain opinion. In our material, no side in the “debate” for or against AS reaches the majority. The most junior physicians are the most uncertain ones.
Le texte complet de cet article est disponible en PDF.Keywords : Euthanasia, Physician-Assisted Suicide, Physicians’ opinion
Plan
Vol 24
Article 100839- octobre 2022 Retour au numéroBienvenue sur EM-consulte, la référence des professionnels de santé.
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