@article{ref1,
title="Perception of physician-assisted suicide among Egyptian psychiatrists: Cultural perspective",
journal="Psychiatrist",
year="2011",
author="Tadros, G. and Rakhawy, M.Y. and Khoweiled, A. and El-Houssini, A.M. and Khan, F.",
volume="35",
number="1",
pages="15-18",
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. <br><br>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.<p /><p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1758-3217",
doi="10.1192/pb.bp.110.030411",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/pb.bp.110.030411"
}