Living will: academic and faculty knowledge at a medical school

Abstract

This qualitative study evaluates the level of academic and faculty knowledge in a medicine program regarding the living will and its applicability, end-of-life decision making, and the concept of dignified death. Semistructured interviews were conducted with ten scholars and five professors from a university in southern Brazil. Data were obtained by discourse analysis and classified in the following categories: knowledge and applicability of living wills; view of the end-of-life process and dignified death; and the limits between the physician’s duty and patient autonomy. In conclusion, this knowledge required greater dissemination to benefit patients and legally supported ethical attitudes.