Abstract

Issues surrounding the right of a terminally ill person to receive assistance in hastening his/her death are currently being debated as our nation explores the ethical and legal complexities of the concept's moral validity. The principal purpose of this study was to quantify the participation of physicians and nurses in assisted suicide, active euthanasia and the administration of morphine for pain and symptom relief whereby death was almost certainly hastened, though the primary intent was not to cause death. Additional aims were to investigate physicians' and nurses' attitudes regarding assisted suicide and active euthanasia; to identify and compare the interpersonal values of those individuals who participated in assisted suicide and active euthanasia with those individuals who did not participate; and to study the relationship between selected variables and participation. ;The sample was limited to physicians and nurses who cared for patients suffering from AIDS and cancer and who reside in New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Four hundred and seventy-five surveys were mailed. The response rate was 42.5%, constituting a sample size of 202. ;A modified Netherlands Questionnaire and The Survey of Interpersonal Values were mailed to all subjects and they were asked to complete and return the surveys. ;Sixteen and seven-tenths percent of responding physicians and nurses had participated in assisted suicide or active euthanasia and 85% had participated in the administration of morphine for pain and symptom relief that almost certainly hastened at least one patient's death, even though the intent was not to cause death. ;There was a significant relationship between participation in assisted suicide and active euthanasia and residing in San Francisco or Los Angeles, having a close friend die within the last five years whose death was characterized by pain and suffering, and not attending three or more religious services per year. ;Seventy-one percent of the respondents believed there were cases in which the suffering of a terminally ill patient was so great that assisted suicide should be available as an option to such patients and 67% believed that a terminally ill patient should have the right to have a physician administer medication with the intent of causing death. ;Interpersonal values of physicians and nurses who participated in assisted suicide or active euthanasia were characterized by a greater emphasis on having warm, close, reciprocal relations with others, and a lower value placed on conformity, than the comparison group of physicians and nurses who did not participate