Awareness and attitude of select professionals toward euthanasia in Delhi, India

Abstract

Introduction:The topic of euthanasia has induced differences not only among professionals in the medical fraternity but also in other fields as well. The dying process is being lengthened by the new state of art technologies erupting as such higher pace, and it is at the expense of standard quality of life and of a gracious death.Aim:To study the awareness and attitude toward euthanasia among select professionals in Delhi.Methodology:It was a questionnaire-based descriptive cross-sectional study. The study population included doctors, nurses, judges, lawyers, journalist, and social activists of Delhi. Tool included a sociodemographic questionnaire, two questions to know awareness regarding euthanasia and a modified euthanasia attitude scale used to measure attitude toward euthanasia. Data were analyzed using Stata 11.2.Results:Through our study, it is evident that professionals who participated in the study (judges, advocates, doctors, nurses, journalists, and social activists) in Delhi were familiar with the term euthanasia. No significant difference was seen in the attitude of professionals of different age group and sex toward euthanasia.Conclusion:Through this study, it is found that judiciary group most strongly endorsed euthanasia. The attitude of doctors was elicited from mixed group with doctors belonging to different specialties. Oncologists are not in favor of any form of euthanasia. However, doctors from other specialties did support euthanasia.

Anticipated impacts of voluntary assisted dying legislation on nursing practice

“…26,27 Previous empirical studies have demonstrated that nurses who envisage voluntary assisted dying as reinforcing their professional identity perceive the practice as aligning with their professional obligation to alleviate suffering [28][29][30] and moral duty to uphold patient autonomy. [31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40] Other studies have shown that nurses who view voluntary assisted dying as conflicting with their professional identity believe so on the basis of its incongruence with their professional obligation of health promotion 37 and their moral duty of non-maleficence. [41][42][43] However, a novel and significant finding of this study is that nurses anticipated the effect of voluntary assisted dying on their professional identity will have tangible flow on effects on their career experience.…”

Nurses’ Perceptions and Attitudes About Euthanasia: A Scoping Review

“…They reasoned that it is the people’s right to autonomous decision making at the end of their life. Singh et al. (2016) reported that nurses strongly support the patients’ choice and rights.…”

“…Moral/ethical beliefs of nurses, such as “medicine existed to keep people alive” and “expectations of new medical developments” caused them to oppose euthanasia (Kumaş et al., 2007). Other related beliefs included euthanasia was considered as murder by injecting a lethal dose (Singh et al., 2016), and that it was not consistent with their role as health carers or health practitioners (Oliver et al., 2017). Moreover, the belief that families and health professionals may misuse euthanasia have featured well in some studies (Kumaş et al., 2007; Oliver et al., 2017; Terkamo-Moisio et al., 2017).…”

“…Other belief systems, world views and attitudes of end-of-life decision making were considered to affect nurses’ perceptions likewise. The moral and ethical values and beliefs that it was murder (Singh et al., 2016), and that it wrong to kill another individual (Parpa et al., 2010). Euthanasia is acceptable if life was supported by a piece of equipment or machine (Mickiewicz et al., 2012).…”

Demonstrating The Importance of Cultural Considerations At End-Of-Life Utilising The Perspective of Indian Patients With Cancer

“…Despite this, all believed that mercy-killing was socially unacceptable, suggesting the pervasive nature of this societal norm in India. This belief was not unfounded: research with Indian doctors [39], nurses [40], and patients [41] reported strong disapproval of euthanasia. This was due in part to the cultural reluctance to talk about death, because discussing one's mortality is an apashagun (inauspicious) [19].…”