Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Attitudes of Belgian Students of Medicine, Philosophy, and Law Towards Euthanasia and the Conditions for Its Acceptance

 2014 Sep 25. [Epub ahead of print]

Attitudes of Belgian Students of Medicine, Philosophy, and Law Towards Euthanasia and the Conditions for Its Acceptance.

Author information

  • 1a End-of-Life Care Research Group , Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and Ghent University , Brussels , Belgium.

Abstract

Euthanasia is legal in Belgium if due care criteria are met, which is judged by committees including physicians, ethicists and jurists. We examined whether students in these disciplines differ in how they judge euthanasia as an acceptable act. A cross-sectional, anonymous e-mail survey revealed that they have similar attitudes and accept its legalization. Therefore, joint decision-making of physicians, ethicists and lawyers regarding euthanasia seems to have a common attitudinal base in Belgium. However, they differ to some extent regarding the conditions they put forward for euthanasia being acceptable. Philosophy of life (religion) was an independent predictor of these attitudes.

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