Latvian Doctors and Medical Students on Assisted Dying

Description

Assisted dying has been an important topic of controversy in many countries for at least two decades and the same applies to Latvia. In 2021 the petition at the ManaBalss.lv public initiative website for legalizing euthanasia was signed by more than 10 000 people, which meant that the parliament had to address the issue. The Latvian Medical Association issued a statement that the practice of euthanasia goes against “the professional tasks of a physician and the principles of medical ethics.” However, so far there is no data on what the attitudes of Latvian doctors towards these issues really are. The present study was conducted to fill this gap. . Online survey of medical doctors and students (N=559) was conducted during May - June of 2021, Mage = 43.9, SDage = 16.1, age range = 19-84, 16.6% female, 83.4% male.. 58.3% of certified physicians agree  that voluntary euthanasia for an adult patient in a terminal condition is permissible. In the sample of medical students, the agreement is even higher - 82.3% of medical students agree that it is permissible. 58.3% of certified physicians agree that voluntary euthanasia should be legalized in Latvia and 48.8% of certified physicians agree  that physician-assisted suicide should be legalized In Latvia. The support for the legalization of voluntary euthanasia is even higher in the sample of medical students - 85.2% agree that euthanasia should be legalized and 73.3% agree that physician-assisted suicide should be legalized. . Despite the public claims of the Latvian Medical Association the attitude of physicians towards assisted dying is rather supportive. The majority of certified physicians in our sample think that voluntary euthanasia for a patient in a terminal condition is permissible and the voluntary euthanasia should be legalized in Latvia. The levels of support are even higher in the sample of medical students.

Period	29 Mar 2023
Event title	RSU Research week 2023: PLACES
Event type	Conference
Conference number	3
Organiser	Rīga Stradiņš University
Location	Rīga, LatviaShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International