Determinants of Canadian physicians' opinions about legalized physician-assisted suicide: a national survey.

OBJECTIVES

To ascertain the opinions of practising Canadian physicians about their willingness to participate in legalized physician-assisted suicide; and to seek possible associations between willingness to practise legalized assisted suicide, and personal and medical professional determinants.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional, mailed survey of a random sample of Canadian physicians, stratified non-proportionally with respect to five geographic regions, and proportionally for type of practice (general practitioner or specialist).

RESULTS

Useable responses came from 2,010 (59 per cent) physicians (regional range 53 to 64 per cent), of whom 1,855 were in clinical practice. Respondents' gender and type of practice did not deviate from national reference data; 57 per cent were unwilling to practice legalized assisted suicide, but 40 per cent would wish it for themselves. Significantly different associations were found between opinions about willingness to practise legalized assisted suicide and the personal determinants of age, geographic regions, country of graduation, and religious activity, but not for gender, and type or experience in practice and terminal care.

CONCLUSIONS

The opinions of Canadian physicians about the practice of legalized physician-assisted suicide are more strongly influenced by personal determinants than by medical professional determinants. This reveals potential conflicts between physicians' professional and personal preferences. In this context, a plurality of Canadian physicians supports legislated change, but most would not practise legalized physician-assisted suicide at this time in Canada.