Primary care physician attitudes and values toward end-of-life care and physician-assisted death

This study explores how primary care physician attitudes toward physician-a ssisted death (PAD) are related to their personal values toward end-of-life care and PAD. A group of 810 Michigan family physicians, internists, and g eneral practitioners, divided into 4 typology groups by their intention tow ard participating in PAD, rated their attitudes toward PAD, along with thei r values and preferences for their own end-of-life care. Respondents who mo st objected to PAD were less likely to have executed an advance directive a nd more likely to have values promoting continued life-sustaining treatment in their own terminal care. Furthermore, a significant number of physician s, who had strong values against their own withdrawal of treatment in termi nal care, were opposed to the withdrawing or withholding of life-sustaining treatment in patient care. Considerations of personal physician values are relevant in the discussion of PAD and the withdrawal of treatment in termi nal care.