Britain: Third of doctors act to shorten lives of dying

Description:

Prof Clive Seale, of the University of London, surveyed 3,733 doctors about end-of-life decisions on medical treatment, and published the results in the online journal Social Science and Medicine. Key findings:

  • one third of doctors say they have given drugs to terminally ill patients or withdrawn treatment, knowing or intending that it would shorten their life.

  • 10% of dying patients ask for help in ending their life.

  • a high proportion of doctors in the survey said they had religious faith, and these were less likely than others to speed up their patient's death.

  • doctors who said they had taken life-shortening decisions were especially likely to work in intensive care units.

Links:

To read the full article click on one of these links, both of which go to the same destination. A short link is provided for the convenience of readers. Also, readers may search and browse past advisories on the web (see bottom.)

Source:

Boseley, Sarah. "Third of doctors act to shorten lives of dying". Guardian. Friday 23 October 2009 19.33 BST. <www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/oct/23/assisted-suicide-doctors-terminally-ill>. Guardian, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London, N1 9GU.

Tags:

Tags (or keywords) briefly indicate some major topics of the report.

  • end-of-life decision

  • passive euthanasia

  • medical profession

  • religion

  • Britain

ID:

The EuthaNEWSia ID for this advisory is: enid200910265581.
Mailed: Monday, October 26, 2009 14:02:10 -0600
at Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Etcetera:

EuthaNEWSia is a free Canadian news advisory service covering end-of-life issues such as right to die, assisted suicide, and euthanasia. EuthaNEWSia is produced by the Right to Die Society of Canada which works toward a good death for all, including open, regulated and equitable access to euthanasia and assisted suicide. The editor is Michael Dawson <editor@euthanewsia.ca>. 

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