Attitudes toward assisted death amongst doctors in Northern Portugal

Abstract

Introduction

Context: In Portugal assisted death was approved in February 2020 by the Parliament, although the law is not yet in force.

Objectives

To find out what doctors think about those practices.

Methods

A link to a questionnaire was sent by email three times, at intervals of one week, to the doctors registered in the Northern Section of the Portuguese Medical Association, before the Parliamentary approval.

Results

The questionnaire was returned by 1148 (9%) physicians. A minority of doctors would practice a form of assisted death under the present law or if it was legalized, but a higher percentage think that euthanasia should be legalized, and more would like to have that option if they themselves were in a terminal phase of a disease. Religion has a strong influence on the attitudes of doctors, so too does their contact with patients in a terminal phase, as doctors who deal with more patients with far advanced diseases are more likely to be unfavorable to assisted death. On the other hand, younger doctors are more in favor of these practices.

Conclusion

The small percentage of questionnaires sent back is a weakness in this study and casts doubts on the generalizability of the conclusions. However, this is, so far, the best approximation to the opinions of Portuguese doctors on assisted death.