부산대학교 도서관

Background: Cancer patients form a notable proportion of requestors for physician-assisted suicide (PAS). This manuscript provides data on German oncologists’ practices and views concerning PAS.Methods: The German Society of Haematology and Medical Oncology (DGHO) has conducted a survey among its members regarding PAS in March 2021. Descriptive analysis and bivariate logistic regression of quantitative data on socio-demographic and other determinants possibly associated with respondents’ views on PAS as well as content analysis of qualitative data were performed.Results: About 57.1% (n = 425) of respondents (n = 745) indicated that they had been asked for information about PAS by patients. 29.9% reported requests for a lethal drug and 3.0% (n = 22) reported to have assisted with suicide. 47.0% (n = 350) objected to providing PAS, whereas 45.9% indicated a willingness. Information about palliative (92.7%; n = 651) and psychological care (85.6%; n = 598) was deemed most important in cases of PAS requests. More than half of the respondents (57.6%; n = 429) were in favour of a formal expert assessment of decisional capacity and about 33.4% (n = 249) favoured a time span of 14 days between the counselling and prescription of a lethal drug. There was no association between participants who received more requests and a preference for disclosing publicly their willingness to assist with suicide. A majority of respondents requested measures of quality assurance (71.3%; n = 531).Conclusion: According to respondents’ views, the regulation of PAS will require diligent procedures regarding the assessment of decisional capacity and counselling. Development of adequate and feasible criteria to assess the quality of practices is an important task.