Why active euthanasia and physician assisted suicide should be legalised

Doyal, Lesley

doi:10.1136/bmj.323.7321.1079

Cited by 40 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…25 Active euthanasia continues to be widely debated. 26 The situation is even more complex when a child or neonate is involved. 27 Neonates cannot speak for themselves, nor have they any previous life experience on which the surrogate decision maker can draw when making choices in his/her ''best interest''.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Should euthanasia be legal? An international survey of neonatal intensive care units staff

Cuttini

2004

Archives of Disease in Childhood - Fetal and Neonatal Edition

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Objective: To present the views of a representative sample of neonatal doctors and nurses in 10 European countries on the moral acceptability of active euthanasia and its legal regulation. Design: A total of 142 neonatal intensive care units were recruited by census (in the Netherlands, Sweden, Hungary, and the Baltic countries) or random sampling (in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom); 1391 doctors and 3410 nurses completed an anonymous questionnaire (response rates 89% and 86% respectively). Main outcome measure: The staff opinion that the law in their country should be changed to allow active euthanasia ''more than now''. Results: Active euthanasia appeared to be both acceptable and practiced in the Netherlands, France, and to a lesser extent Lithuania, and less acceptable in Sweden, Hungary, Italy, and Spain. More then half (53%) of the doctors in the Netherlands, but only a quarter (24%) in France felt that the law should be changed to allow active euthanasia ''more than now''. For 40% of French doctors, end of life issues should not be regulated by law. Being male, regular involvement in research, less than six years professional experience, and having ever participated in a decision of active euthanasia were positively associated with an opinion favouring relaxation of legal constraints. Having had children, religiousness, and believing in the absolute value of human life showed a negative association. Nurses were slightly more likely to consider active euthanasia acceptable in selected circumstances, and to feel that the law should be changed to allow it more than now. Conclusions: Opinions of health professionals vary widely between countries, and, even where neonatal euthanasia is already practiced, do not uniformly support its legalisation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Should euthanasia be legal? An international survey of neonatal intensive care units staff

Cuttini

2004

Archives of Disease in Childhood - Fetal and Neonatal Edition

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“…Two widely publicised medicolegal cases in the United Kingdom1 2 have prompted renewed debate about the moral and legal validity of providing assistance to die (box 1) 3. The debate has been fuelled by publication of the report of a House of Lords select committee set up to consider the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill4 and final determination by the US courts that hydration and nutrition could lawfully be withdrawn from a patient in a persistent vegetative state 5 6…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Time for change

Branthwaite¹

2005

BMJ

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“…Surely a case is to be made for reform, but not along the permissive lines that have been proposed, including those in a controversial editorial in this journal 6. Rather, what is needed is greater clarity in the definition and application of the offence.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Assisted suicide

Huxtable

2004

BMJ

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Why active euthanasia and physician assisted suicide should be legalised

Cited by 40 publications

References 5 publications

Should euthanasia be legal? An international survey of neonatal intensive care units staff

Should euthanasia be legal? An international survey of neonatal intensive care units staff

Time for change

Assisted suicide

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