title: Medical house officers' attitudes toward vigorous analgesia, terminal sedation, and physician-assisted suicide.
abstract: In 2000, the authors surveyed 236 medical house officers in three internal medicine residency programs in Connecticut to assess attitudes toward vigorous analgesia, terminal sedation, and physician-assisted suicide. The goal was to identify associations between these attitudes and training, demographic, and religious factors. The results of the study indicated that most medical house officers supported vigorous analgesia, the majority supported terminal sedation, but only a minority supported physician-assisted suicide. Some house officers' attitudes toward terminal sedation and assisted suicide may have been influenced by their religious commitments and the pressures of training.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine and Program in Biomedical Ethics and Medical Humanities, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, Iowa, USA.
authors.forename: Lauris C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Kaldjian
authors.forename: Barry J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: James N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Kirkpatrick
authors.forename: Asha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thomas-Geevarghese
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vaughan-Sarrazin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000698:Analgesia / Q000941:ethics / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001293:Attitude to Death; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards; D003237:Connecticut; D016292:Procedural Sedation / Q000941:ethics / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine / Q000193:education; D008297:Male; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital / Q000193:education / Q000941:ethics / Q000523:psychology*; D010686:Philosophy, Medical; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D012647:Self-Assessment; D029181:Spirituality; D017236:Suicide, Assisted / Q000941:ethics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*