UK doctors' attitude to assisted dying differs strongly from the public's

doi:10.1136/bmj.b1338

Published 1 April 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b1338
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b1338

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UK doctors’ attitude to assisted dying differs strongly from the public’s

Roger Dobson

¹ Abergavenny

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Most doctors in the United Kingdom are opposed to the legalisationof euthanasia or physician assisted suicide, a new survey shows,while half the general population favours it.

The survey found that only 9% of medical practitioners werecertain that doctors should be allowed to end the life of someonewith an incurable and a painful illness, whereas half of thegeneral public was in favour (Palliative Medicine 2009;23:205-12,doi:10.1177/0269216308102041).

It also found that specialists in palliative medicine were thegroup of doctors most opposed to the idea, followed by thoseworking in care of the elderly.

"This study shows that the majority of British doctors do notsupport legalising assisted dying, either in the form of euthanasiaor physician-assisted dying," says the report.

The study was based on a survey posted to a random sample of8857 GPs, neurologists, specialists in care of the elderly and. . . [Full text of this article]

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