File(s) not publicly available
Physician attitudes to voluntary assisted dying: A scoping review
journal contribution
posted on 2022-02-16, 03:17 authored by Jodhi Rutherford, Lindy Willmott, Ben P WhiteBackground Voluntary assisted dying (VAD) became legal in the Australian state of Victoria on 19 June 2019 and will be legal in Western Australia from 2021. Other Australian states are progressing similar law reform processes. In Australia and internationally, doctors are central to the operation of all legal VAD regimes. It is broadly accepted that doctors, as a profession, are less in favour of VAD law reform than the rest of the community. To date, there has been little analysis of the factors that motivate doctors' support or opposition to legalised VAD in Australia. Aim To review all studies reporting the attitudes of Australian doctors regarding the legalisation of VAD, including their willingness to participate in it, and to observe and record common themes in existing attitudinal data. Design Scoping review and thematic analysis of qualitative and quantitative data. Data sources CINAHL, Embase, Scopus, PubMed and Informit were searched from inception to June 2019. Results 26 publications detailing 19 studies were identified. Thematic analysis of quantitative and qualitative findings was performed. Three overarching themes emerged. 'Attitudes towards regulation' encompassed doctors' orientation towards legalisation, the shortcomings of binary categories of support or opposition and doctors' concerns about additional regulation of their professional practices. 'Professional and personal impact of legalisation' described tensions between palliative care and VAD, and the emotional and social impact of being providers of VAD. 'Practical considerations regarding access' considered doctors' concerns about eligibility criteria and their willingness to provide VAD. Conclusion A detailed understanding of medical perspectives about VAD would facilitate the design of legislative models that take better account of doctors' concerns. This may facilitate their greater participation in VAD and help address potential access issues arising from availability of willing doctors.
History
Volume
11Issue
2Start Page
200End Page
208Number of Pages
9eISSN
2045-4368ISSN
2045-435XPublisher
BMJPublisher DOI
Full Text URL
Language
enPeer Reviewed
- Yes
Open Access
- No
Acceptance Date
2020-05-18External Author Affiliations
Queensland University of TechnologyEra Eligible
- Yes
Medium
Print-ElectronicJournal
BMJ Supportive and Palliative CareUsage metrics
Categories
Keywords
Voluntary assisted dying (VAD)Voluntary euthanasiaPhysician attitudeHumansPalliative CareEuthanasia, Active, VoluntarySuicide, AssistedAttitude of Health PersonnelAdultPhysiciansAustraliaend of life careclinical decisionsterminal caremethodological researchLaw and SocietyLaw not elsewhere classified