Correlates of Physiciansʼ Endorsement of the Legalization of Physician-assisted Suicide

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Although most physicians recognize a duty to provide compassion- ate end-of-life care, they often feel ill prepared to do so. Of partic- ular controversy is physician-assisted suicide. Physician-assisted su- icide is commonly defined as the practice of providing a competent patient with a prescription for medication for the patient to use with the primary intention of ending his or her own life. In a recent survey of approximately 2,000 U.S. physicians, 3.3% reported that they had written at least one prescription to hasten death. 1 Eleven percent reported they would write a prescription to hasten death if requested to do so under the current legal system. If legalized, 36% of the physicians would be willing to write a prescription to hasten death. 1 Consistent with the diversity of physicians' opinions about the practice of assisted suicide, attitudes toward its legalization are also divided. When physicians in Michigan were asked to choose be- tween legalizing or banning assisted suicide, 56% favored legalizing it, while 37% voted for a specific ban. 2 Respondents' Endorsement of Legalization of Physician-assisted Sui- cide. Of the 830 respondents, 284 (34%) endorsed legalization— 73 (9%) ''strongly agreed,'' and 211 (25%) ''agreed''; and 340 (41%) opposed it—189 (23%) ''disagreed,'' 151 (18%) ''strongly dis- agreed,'' and 206 (25%) expressed ''no opinion.'' The response pat- terns were similar for physicians who graduated in the six different