TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2011//
TI  - Perception of physician-assisted suicide among Egyptian psychiatrists: Cultural perspective
JO  - Psychiatrist
A1  - Tadros, G.
A1  - Rakhawy, M.Y.
A1  - Khoweiled, A.
A1  - El-Houssini, A.M.
A1  - Khan, F.
SP  - 15
EP  - 18
VL  - 35
IS  - 1
N2  - 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>
LA  - en
SN  - 1758-3217
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/pb.bp.110.030411
ID  - ref1
ER  -