ATTITUDES OF ONCOLOGISTS, FAMILY DOCTORS, MEDICAL-STUDENTS AND LAWYERS TO EUTHANASIA

The purpose of this survey was to define attitudes and opinions of two types of physicians, medical students and lawyers in the area of euth anasia and related issues and problems. A questionnaire was used as th e source of data. There were four groups of test persons: oncologists, home care physicians (family doctors), third-year medical students an d lawyers. The questionnaire included 22 questions, 4 of which concern ed general characteristics of tested persons (including religious beli ef), while 18 referred to the problems of euthanasia. The total number of tested persons was 123. 55 men and 68 women with a median age of 3 8 +/- 11 years (+/-SD). There were 30 test persons in the group of onc ologists, 31 in the group of family doctors, 31 in the group of third- year students, and 31 in the group of lawyers. Between 97% and 100% of individuals gave scored responses to most items. More than half of th e individuals (57%) were against euthanasia, and 61% are against the l egalization of euthanasia. The views of doctors and medical students w ere similar (2/3 against) and significantly different from the view of lawyers (2/3 for, P<0.01). The legalization of euthanasia is favored by 61% of lawyers, in contrast to 43%, 30% and 23% of oncologists, fam ily doctors and medical students, respectively. Overall, 31% sais they would apply euthanasia if they were asked for it, and 36% that would if it had been legalized. Lawyers are twice as willing to perform euth anasia as students or physicians. The least ready to apply euthanasia are physicians working as oncologists (only 1 in 5). Compared with onc ologists, one-third of home-care physicians would perform euthanasia a nyway, whether legalized or not. Most of the test persons were of the opinion that euthanasia should be performed in the case of children bo rn with a severe anomaly. None of the tested groups considered invalid ity or being a burden to the family important reasons for the terminat ion of somebody's life. Approximately 40% of responders believed that the decision for euthanasia should be made by the patient alone. Only lawyers were of the opinion that the misuse of euthanasia could be con trolled. Our study shows that it is probably more important to determi ne factors associated with behavior pertaining to euthanasia in physic ians working closely with suffering patients. Reducing suffering and l aunching a hospice movement and palliative care services might be the most appropriate way to deal with the problem of euthanasia.