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Abstract
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INTRODUCTION: Assisted suicide and euthanasia are practices carried out to shorten the lives of patients who suffer unbearably.
OBJECTIVES: Assess the attitude of white staff and students of a university hospital about assisted suicide and euthanasia, also to demonstrate the degree of knowledge of these, establish their position, identify the reasons why some disagree with their legalization and contrast their attitudes about performing euthanasia or assisted suicide to terminally ill patients and the performance of such practices on their person in case of terminal illnesses.
METHODology: An observational, descriptive cross-sectional study with non-probability sampling for convenience was carried out from February to March 2020. The sample was 300. A self-compliance questionnaire was used, distributed digitally to the participants.
RESULTS: 10% have received requests from patients to accelerate death, 42.7% have considered the idea of accelerating death to end suffering. 63.3% would accelerate their death in case of terminal illness. 32% and 38% fully agree to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia, respectively, in case of terminal illness. 12.7% is in case of Alzheimer or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. 16.7% fully agree with the legalization of euthanasia in cases of tetraplegia. The most common reason for disagreement (32%) for its legalization was personal reasons. 20% and 15.3% would commit euthanasia and assisted suicide, respectively, if they suffer from terminal illnesses. 34% would probably euthanize a patient if it were legal.
DISCUSSION: The professional, scientific and human response to the multiple needs during the final phase is in palliative medicine, which is the response to the right of every human being to alleviate suffering. © 2020, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Santa Rosa del Aguaray Branch, National University of Asuncion. All rights reserved.
Language: es |