Attitudes toward assisted death amongst doctors in Northern Portugal

Abstract

Introduction Context: In Portugal assisted death was approved in February 2020 by the Parliament, although the law is not yet in force. Objectives To find out what doctors think about those practices. Methods A link to a questionnaire was sent by email three times, at intervals of one week, to the doctors registered in the Northern Section of the Portuguese Medical Association, before the Parliamentary approval. Results The questionnaire was returned by 1148 (9%) physicians. A minority of doctors would practice a form of assisted death under the present law or if it was legalized, but a higher percentage think that euthanasia should be legalized, and more would like to have that option if they themselves were in a terminal phase of a disease. Religion has a strong influence on the attitudes of doctors, so too does their contact with patients in a terminal phase, as doctors who deal with more patients with far advanced diseases are more likely to be unfavorable to assisted death. On the other hand, younger doctors are more in favor of these practices. Conclusion The small percentage of questionnaires sent back is a weakness in this study and casts doubts on the generalizability of the conclusions. However, this is, so far, the best approximation to the opinions of Portuguese doctors on assisted death.

Attitudes Toward End-Of-Life Decisions Other Than Assisted Death Amongst Doctors in Northern Portugal

“…Against the legalization of those acts were also doctors who follow more patients with advanced diseases. The in uence of contacting with more patients with the approval of those practices was consistent with their opinion on legalizing of assisted death [5]. The observation that physicians who more frequently deal with patients with far advanced diseases were more likely to oppose assisted death than others was also made in other studies [7,9,17], but not in all of them [18].…”

“…A smaller number would accept that the decision was taken by a doctor's initiative. This was also observed when doctors were asked about euthanasia [5] and in our study published in 2010 on the same topic [2]. Those data mean that some doctors want for themselves what they are not prepared to do for their patients.…”

“…Younger doctors were also more against the legalization of given lethal doses to cognitively incompetent patients in the mentioned conditions. This is a curious observation because the same younger doctors favored more assisted death practices [5]. They were even against those practices if they were the patient.…”

“…Those doctors were even more against those practices. It is not surprising that religious doctors were more likely to be against those practices, as several studies showed that religious doctors oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide more often than non-religious doctors [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. Nevertheless, not all studies reach that conclusion [14][15][16].…”

Awareness and Attitudes towards Advance Care Directives (ACDs): An Online Survey of Portuguese Adults

“…The present study was motivated by a widespread feeling, formed through opinions and news about RENTEV data, that adherence to ACD is low in Portugal, although several studies indicate that most people would like their wishes respected. In addition, the present research took place during an intense debate in Portuguese society regarding EOL options, in particular around euthanasia and assisted suicide [22,23].…”