Citation

Tadros G, Rakhawy MY, Khoweiled A, El-Houssini AM, Khan F. Psychiatrist 2011; 35(1): 15-18.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011)

DOI

10.1192/pb.bp.110.030411

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Aims and method: To explore the views of Egyptian psychiatrists on physician-assisted suicide, focusing on demographical, spiritual, legal and clinical domains. We surveyed the views of psychiatrists in four Egyptian counties using a structured questionnaire with a five-point Likert response scale.

RESULTS: A total of 160 psychiatrists completed the questionnaire (response rate 82%). Of these, 50% described the influence of their religious beliefs on their medical practice as very strong/strong and 12.5% as weak/nil. The majority (75%) said they would disagree or strongly disagree with supporting physician-assisted suicide for a terminally ill patient; a similar proportion (76%) were against passive euthanasia. The majority (77%) felt that physician-assisted suicide was against their religious beliefs; there was no significant difference between Muslims and Christians. The majority (82.4%) believed that physician-assisted suicide could/will be abused. Clinical implications: Careful consideration should be given to the safeguarding of psychiatric patients if physician-assisted suicide is legalised. Future studies on the views of clinicians should explore the influence of cultural differences rather than religious beliefs. Declaration of interest: None.

Language: en

Keywords

adult; human; aged; assisted suicide; article; psychiatrist; medical practice; medicolegal aspect; religion; passive euthanasia; terminally ill patient; Egypt; mental patient; physician attitude; perception; structured questionnaire