Journal
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF HOSPICE & PALLIATIVE MEDICINE
Volume 25, Issue 2, Pages 112-120Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC
DOI: 10.1177/1049909107310141
Keywords
religion; ethics; physician-assisted suicide; terminal sedation; withdrawal of life support; ethnicity
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Funding
- NCCIH NIH HHS [K23 AT002749, K23 AT002749-03, K23/AT002749] Funding Source: Medline
- NATIONAL CENTER FOR COMPLEMENTARY &ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE [K23AT002749] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
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This study analyzes data from a national survey to estimate the proportion of physicians who currerntly object to physician-assisted Suicide (PAS), terminal sedation (TS), and withdrawal of artificial life Support (WLS), and to examine associations between such objections and physician ethnicity, religious characteristics, and experience caring for dying patients. Overall, 69% of the US physicians object to PAS, 18% to TS, and 5% to WLS. Highly religious physicians are more likely than those with low religiosity to object to both PAS (84% vs 55%, P < .001) and TS (25% vs 12%, P < .001). Objection to PAS or TS is also associated with being of Asian ethnicity, of Hindu religious affiliation, and having more experience caring for dying patients. These findings suggest that, with respect to morally contested interventions at the end of life, the medical care patients receive will vary based on their physicians religious characteristics, ethnicity, and experience caring for dying patients.
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