Cd. Douglas et al., The intention to hasten death: a survey of attitudes and practices of surgeons in Australia, MED J AUST, 175(10), 2001, pp. 511-515
Citations number
17
Categorie Soggetti
General & Internal Medicine","Medical Research General Topics
Objective: To determine attitudes among surgeons in Australia to assisted d
eath, and the proportion of surgeons who have intentionally hastened death
with or without an explicit request.
Design: Anonymous, cross-sectional, mail-out survey between August and Nove
mber 1999
Participants. 683 out of 992 eligible general surgeons (68.9% response rate
).
Main outcome measures: Proportion of respondents answering affirmatively to
questions about administering excessive doses of medication with an intent
ion to hasten death.
Results: 247 respondents (36.2%; 95% Cl, 32.6%-39.9%) reported that, for th
e purpose of relieving a patient's suffering, they have given drugs in dose
s that they perceived to be greater than those required to relieve symptoms
with the intention of hastening death. More than half of these (139 respon
dents; 20.4% of all respondents; 95% Cl, 17.4%-23.6%) reported that they ha
d never received an unambiguous request for a lethal dose of medication. Of
all respondents, only 36 (5.3%; 95% Cl, 2.9%-6.1%) reported that they had
given a bolus lethal injection, or had provided the means to commit suicide
, in response to an unambiguous request.
Conclusions. More than a third of surgeons surveyed reported giving drugs w
ith an intention to hasten death, often in the absence of an explicit reque
st. However, in many instances, this may involve the use of an infusion of
analgesics or sedatives, and such actions may be difficult to distinguish f
rom accepted palliative care, except on the basis of the doctor's self-repo
rted intention. Legal and moral distinctions based solely on a doctor's int
ention are problematic.