Johansen Sissel, Hølen Jacob Chr, Kaasa Stein, Loge Håvard Jon, Materstvedt Lars Johan
Department of Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway.
Palliat Med. 2005 Sep;19(6):454-60. doi: 10.1191/0269216305pm1048oa.
Most studies on attitudes towards euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (PAS) have been conducted in healthy populations. The aim of this study is to explore and describe attitudes towards, and wishes for, euthanasia/PAS in cancer patients with short life expectancy.
Semi-structured interviews with 18 cancer patients with a life expectancy of less than nine months. All patients were recruited from an inpatient palliative medicine unit.
Patients holding a positive attitude towards euthanasia/PAS do not necessarily want euthanasia/PAS for themselves. Wishes are different from requests for euthanasia/PAS. Fear of future pain and a painful death were the main reasons given for a possible wish for euthanasia/PAS. Worries about minimal quality of life and lack of hope also contributed to such thoughts. Wishes for euthanasia/PAS were hypothetical; they were future oriented and with a prerequisite that intense pain, lack of quality of life and/or hope had to be present. Additionally, wishes were fluctuating and ambivalent.
The wish to die in these patients does not seem to be constant. Rather, this wish is more appropriately seen as an ambivalent and fluctuating mental 'solution' for the future. Health care providers should be aware of this when responding to utterances regarding euthanasia/PAS.
大多数关于安乐死和医生协助自杀（PAS）态度的研究都是在健康人群中进行的。本研究的目的是探讨和描述预期寿命较短的癌症患者对安乐死/PAS的态度和愿望。
对18名预期寿命不足9个月的癌症患者进行半结构式访谈。所有患者均从住院姑息治疗病房招募。
对安乐死/PAS持积极态度的患者不一定希望自己接受安乐死/PAS。愿望与安乐死/PAS的请求不同。对未来疼痛和痛苦死亡的恐惧是可能希望安乐死/PAS的主要原因。对最低生活质量的担忧和缺乏希望也促成了这种想法。对安乐死/PAS的愿望是假设性的；它们是面向未来的，并且有一个前提条件，即必须存在剧烈疼痛、缺乏生活质量和/或希望。此外，愿望是波动的和矛盾的。
这些患者的死亡愿望似乎并非一成不变。相反，这种愿望更恰当地被视为对未来矛盾和波动的心理“解决方案”。医疗保健提供者在回应有关安乐死/PAS的言论时应意识到这一点。
