MEDICAL-STUDENTS ATTITUDES REGARDING THE USE OF LIFE-SUSTAINING TREATMENTS FOR THEMSELVES AND FOR ELDERLY PERSONS

This study investigated students' wishes regarding the use of life-sus taining treatments (LST) in different health conditions compared with their evaluations of the wishes of elderly people, and with reports of a group of elderly people about themselves. Data were collected from two consecutive classes of first year medical students (n = 101), and a random sample of Israeli elderly aged 70+ (n = 987) who responded to fixed-choice questions regarding their will to live and wishes for th ree kinds of LST in a number of hypothetical illness conditions. The s tudents were also asked to assess elderly's wishes. Students ranked th e will to live of elderly persons significantly lower than their own. The elderly ranked their will to live significantly lower than did the students, but higher than the students assumed about them, indicating that although the will to live is weaker among older people, it is st ronger than young persons believe. With regard to the use of LST, stud ents believe that old people want less LST than themselves, but the el derly want even less LST than assumed by the students. The best predic tors of students' wishes for themselves were fear of dying and religio sity. Fear of dying, the students' self-esteem and religiosity were th e best predictors of their evaluations of the elderly's wishes. The re sults indicate that both the elderly and the students have a relativel y strong will to live, but this desire is dependent on quality of life . The implications of this study for medical education are discussed. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.