PHYSICIAN CHARACTERISTICS ASSOCIATED WITH DECISIONS TO WITHDRAW LIFE-SUPPORT

Objective. This study was undertaken to identify attributes of physici ans associated with physicians' decisions to withdraw life support. Me thods. Of the 862 Pennsylvania internists surveyed and asked to make d ecisions in response to hypothetical vignettes and to report their act ual experience with the withdrawal of life support, 485 (56%) responde d. The data were analyzed with regression models. Results With other f actors controlled physicians were more willing to withdraw life suppor t if they were young, practiced in a tertiary care setting or spent mo re time in clinical practice; they were less willing if they were Cath olic or Jewish. Physicians reported a higher frequency of actually wit hdrawing life support if they were-young, had more contact with ICU pa tients, spent more time in clinical practice, or were specialists. Phy sicians with a greater willingness to withdraw were more likely to rep ort having done so. Conclusions. Physicians' personal characteristics are associated with both their preferences and their practice in the w ithdrawal of life support, and a greater willingness to withdraw is as sociated with a higher frequency, of withdrawal. The influence of phys ician characteristics demonstrates that patient preferences and clinic al circumstances do not exclusively-govern such ethical decisions.