Medisinstudenters holdninger til legalisering av eutanasi og legeassistert selvmord
Sammanfattning
BACKGROUND We wished to investigate prevailing attitudes among future doctors regarding legalisation of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. This issue is important, since any legalisation of these practices would confer a completely new role on doctors.
MATERIAL AND METHOD Attitudes were identified with the aid of a questionnaire-based survey among medical students in their 5th and 6th year of study in the four Norwegian medical schools.
RESULTS Altogether 531 students responded (59.5 % of all students in these cohorts). Of these, 102 (19 %) were of the opinion that euthanasia should be legalised in the case of terminal illness, 164 (31 %) responded that physician-assisted suicide should be permitted for this indication, while 145 (28 %) did not know. A minority of the respondents would permit euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in other situations. Women and those who reported that religion was important to them were less positive than men to permitting euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide.
INTERPRETATION In most of the situations described, the majority of the students in this survey rejected legalisation. Opinions are more divided in the case of terminal illness, since a larger proportion is in favour of legalisation and more respondents are undecided.