Physician-Assisted Suicide and Midwest Social Workers: Where Do They Stand?

Abstract

Physician-assisted suicide (PAS) is explicitly legal in five states and by court decision in one. Legislative bills have been introduced in other states including Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin. This quantitative study was designed to understand Midwest, hospice and palliative care at end-of-life social workers' attitudes toward PAS, preferred terminology, perception of preparedness for the implementation, and awareness of PAS legislation in their state. Sixty-two social workers from Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin completed an anonymous online survey. The results indicated that over one-half of the participants supported PAS legislation and is consistent with previous research on social workers across the country. While there was a range of perceived preparedness for implementation, a majority felt moderately to very prepared. Professional and personal values as well as professional experience influenced their perceived preparedness. Few social workers had accurate awareness of PAS legislation in their state or had attended workshops/events for further education or as a policy advocate. To practice competently and advocate at all levels of practice, hospice and palliative care at end-of-life social workers' need to understand their own attitudes and values toward PAS and pursue additional education around this ethical issue.

Implementation of Medical Assistance in Dying: An evaluation of clinician knowledge and perceptions at a large urban multi-site rehabilitation centre in Toronto

“…This critical finding is consistent with previous research studies suggesting that this is a common concern amongst healthcare providers. [6,7] The average grade resulting from the current study's knowledge based questions was slightly lower than expected at 69%. In consultation with the facility, the target average grade was set at 85%-90% making the variance 16%-20%.…”