Attitudes Regarding Palliative Sedation and Death Hastening Among Swiss Physicians: A Contextually Sensitive Approach

In Switzerland, where assisted suicide but not euthanasia is permitted, the authors sought to understand how physicians integrate palliative sedation in their practice and how they reflect on existential suffering and death hastening. They interviewed 31 physicians from different care settings. Five...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inDeath studies Vol. 39; no. 8; pp. 473 - 482
Main Authors Foley, Rose-Anna, Johnston, Wendy S., Bernard, Mathieu, Canevascini, Michela, Currat, Thierry, Borasio, Gian D., Beauverd, Michel
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Routledge 14.09.2015
Taylor & Francis LLC
Subjects
Adult
Assisted suicide
Attitude of Health Personnel
Attitudes
Conscious Sedation - methods
Conscious Sedation - psychology
Death & dying
Euthanasia - psychology
Female
Health technology assessment
Humans
Interviews as Topic
Male
Middle Aged
Palliative care
Palliative Care - psychology
Physicians
Physicians - psychology
Qualitative Research
Switzerland
Switzerland
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Summary:In Switzerland, where assisted suicide but not euthanasia is permitted, the authors sought to understand how physicians integrate palliative sedation in their practice and how they reflect on existential suffering and death hastening. They interviewed 31 physicians from different care settings. Five major attitudes emerged. Among specialized palliative care physicians, convinced, cautious and doubtful attitudes were evident. Within unspecialized settings, palliative sedation was more likely to be considered as death hastening: clinicians either avoid it with an inexperienced attitude or practice it with an ambiguous attitude, raising the issue of unskilled and abusive uses of sedatives at the end of life.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
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ISSN:0748-1187
1091-7683
DOI:10.1080/07481187.2015.1029142