Navigating assisted death and end-of-life care

Shariff, Mary J.

doi:10.1503/cmaj.091845

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 15 publications

(11 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The vital role of palliative care in the debate is also mirrored in our results with 63.4 % of the respondents wanting to attempt to treat the patient’s symptoms first before making any ultimate decisions. Some have even argued that in the absence of palliative care patients would not be able to make an informed meaningful decision [ 65 , 66 ]. This however, has been disputed in the literature arguing that an autonomous decision regarding euthanasia or PAS is not limited to patients that are being treated in an ideal setting i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Palliative care professionals’ willingness to perform euthanasia or physician assisted suicide

Zenz

Tryba²,

Zenz

2015

BMC Palliat Care

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundEuthanasia and physician assisted suicide (PAS) are highly debated upon particularly in the light of medical advancement and an aging society. Little is known about the professionals’ willingness to perform these practices particularly among those engaged in the field of palliative care and pain management. Thus a study was performed among those professionals.MethodsAn anonymous questionnaire was handed out to all participants of a palliative care congress and a pain symposium in 2013. The questionnaire consisted of 8 questions regarding end of life decisions. Proposed patient vignettes were used.ResultsA total of 470 eligible questionnaires were returned, 198 by physicians, 272 by nurses. The response rate was 64 %. The majority of professionals were reluctant to perform euthanasia or PAS: 5.3 % of the respondents would be willing to perform euthanasia on a patient with a terminal illness if asked to do so. The reluctance grew in case of a patient with a non-terminal illness. The respondents were more willing to perform PAS than euthanasia. Nurses were more reluctant to take action as opposed to the physicians. The majority of the respondents would attempt to treat the patient’s symptoms first before considering life-ending measures. As regards any decision making process the majority would consult with a colleague.ConclusionsThis is the first German study to ask about the willingness of professionals to take action as regards euthanasia and PAS without biased phrasing. As opposed to the general acceptance that is respectively high, the actual willingness to perform life-ending measures is low. The German debate on physician assisted suicide and its possible legalization should also incorporate clarifications regarding the responsibility who should eventually perform these acts.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Palliative care professionals’ willingness to perform euthanasia or physician assisted suicide

Zenz

Tryba²,

Zenz

2015

BMC Palliat Care

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Physician–Patient Relationship, Assisted Suicide and the Italian Constitutional Court

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Physician-assisted death with limited access to palliative care

Barutta

Vollmann

2015

J Med Ethics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Even among advocates of legalising physician-assisted death, many argue that this should be done only once palliative care has become widely available. Meanwhile, according to them, physician-assisted death should be banned. Four arguments are often presented to support this claim, which we call the argument of lack of autonomy, the argument of existing alternatives, the argument of unfair inequalities and the argument of the antagonism between physician-assisted death and palliative care. We argue that although these arguments provide strong reasons to take appropriate measures to guarantee access to good quality palliative care to everyone who needs it, they do not justify a ban on physician-assisted death until we have achieved this goal.

show abstract

Navigating assisted death and end-of-life care

Cited by 3 publications

References 15 publications

Palliative care professionals’ willingness to perform euthanasia or physician assisted suicide

Palliative care professionals’ willingness to perform euthanasia or physician assisted suicide

Physician–Patient Relationship, Assisted Suicide and the Italian Constitutional Court

Physician-assisted death with limited access to palliative care

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About