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ABSTRACT |
Objective: To determine attitudes among surgeons in
Australia to assisted death, and the proportion of surgeons who have
intentionally hastened death with or without an explicit request.
Design: Anonymous, cross-sectional, mail-out
survey between August and November 1999
Participants: 683 out of 992 eligible general
surgeons (68.9% response rate).
Main outcome measures: Proportion of respondents
answering affirmatively to questions about administering
excessive doses of medication with an intention to hasten death.
Results: 247 respondents (36.2%; 95% CI,
32.6%-39.9%) reported that, for the purpose of relieving a patient's
suffering, they have given drugs in doses that they perceived to be
greater than those required to relieve symptoms with the
intention of hastening death. More than half of these (139
respondents; 20.4% of all respondents; 95% CI, 17.4%-23.6%)
reported that they had never received an unambiguous request for a
lethal dose of medication. Of all respondents, only 36 (5.3%; 95% CI,
2.9%-6.1%) reported that they had given a bolus lethal
injection, or had provided the means to commit suicide, in response to
an unambiguous request.
Conclusions: More than a third of surgeons surveyed
reported giving drugs with an intention to hasten death, often in the
absence of an explicit request. However, in many instances, this may
involve the use of an infusion of analgesics or sedatives, and such
actions may be difficult to distinguish from accepted palliative
care, except on the basis of the doctor's self-reported intention.
Legal and moral distinctions based solely on a doctor's intention are
problematic.
MJA 2001; 175: 511-515
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