Oncologist Support for Euthanasia Declines

A survey of 3,299 oncologists has revealed that the support for euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide of terminally ill cancer patients has dramatically declined in recent years. The survey also found that oncologists who had been trained in end-of-life care were less likely to support or carry out euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide. The researchers who conducted the survey say this may reflect an improved ability by some oncologists to provide appropriate care for their dying patients.

A study that compared the results of this survey, conducted in 1998, with a survey conducted in 1994 showed that support for euthanasia for dying cancer patients in excruciating pain has dropped from 23% in 1994 to 7% in 1998. Similarly, support for physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill cancer patients with unremitting pain has dropped from 45% to 22%. The study results were published in the October 3 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

In the recent survey, nearly one-third of the oncologists who participated said they would be reluctant to increase the dosage of morphine for a dying cancer patient in excruciating pain. This reticence to relive pain appears to reflect physician fears that increasing the dose of morphine may also raise a patient's risk of respiratory depression and death, which might be construed as euthanasia. The participants in the survey were members of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

These study results underscore the need for physician education of optimal pain and palliative care practices, said Robert J. Mayer, M.D., professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and leader of the study. Physicians who are better informed about end-of-life issues feel less need to use euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide.