Ganzini L, Fenn D S, Lee M A, Heintz R T, Bloom J D
Department of Psychiatry, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, USA.
Am J Psychiatry. 1996 Nov;153(11):1469-75. doi: 10.1176/ajp.153.11.1469.
After passage, in November 1994, of Oregon's ballot measure legalizing physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill persons, the authors surveyed psychiatrists in Oregon to determine their attitudes toward assisted suicide, the factors influencing these attitudes, and how they might both respond to and follow up a request by a primary care physician to evaluate a terminally ill patient desiring assisted suicide.
An anonymous questionnaire was sent to all 418 Oregon psychiatrists.
Seventy-seven percent of psychiatrists (N = 321) returned the questionnaire. Two-thirds endorsed the view that a physician should be permitted, under some circumstances, to write a prescription for a medication whose sole purpose would be to allow a patient to end his or her life. One-third endorsed the view that this practice should never be permitted. Over half favored Oregon's assisted suicide initiative becoming law. Psychiatrists' position on legalization of assisted suicide influenced the likelihood that they would agree to evaluate patients requesting assisted suicide and how they would follow up an evaluation of a competent patient desiring assisted suicide. Only 6% of psychiatrists were very confident that in a single evaluation they could adequately assess whether a psychiatric disorder was impairing the judgment of a patient requesting assisted suicide.
Psychiatrists in Oregon are divided in their belief about the ethical permissibility of assisted suicide, and their moral beliefs influence how they might evaluate a patient requesting assisted suicide, should this practice be legalized. Psychiatrists' confidence in their ability to determine whether a psychiatric disorder such as depression was impairing the judgment of a patient requesting assisted suicide was low.
1994年11月俄勒冈州通过了一项投票法案，使医生协助绝症患者自杀合法化。之后，作者对俄勒冈州的精神科医生进行了调查，以确定他们对协助自杀的态度、影响这些态度的因素，以及他们会如何回应并跟进初级保健医生提出的对一名希望接受协助自杀的绝症患者进行评估的请求。
向俄勒冈州所有418名精神科医生发送了一份匿名问卷。
77%的精神科医生（N = 321）回复了问卷。三分之二的人赞同在某些情况下，医生应该被允许开具一种药物的处方，该药物的唯一目的是让患者结束自己的生命。三分之一的人赞同这种做法绝不应该被允许。超过一半的人支持俄勒冈州的协助自杀倡议成为法律。精神科医生对协助自杀合法化的立场影响了他们同意评估请求协助自杀患者的可能性，以及他们会如何跟进对一名有行为能力且希望接受协助自杀患者的评估。只有6%的精神科医生非常有信心在一次评估中就能充分评估出精神疾病是否正在损害请求协助自杀患者的判断力。
俄勒冈州的精神科医生在协助自杀的道德可允许性问题上存在分歧，并且他们的道德信念会影响如果这种做法合法化，他们会如何评估请求协助自杀的患者。精神科医生对自己判断诸如抑郁症等精神疾病是否正在损害请求协助自杀患者判断力的能力信心不足。
