title: Desire for hastened death among patients with advanced AIDS.
abstract: The recent debate over legalization of physician-assisted suicide has fueled interest in understanding factors that lead medically ill patients to seek a hastened death. The authors investigated the prevalence and predictors of desire for hastened death in 372 patients with advanced AIDS who were newly admitted to a palliative-care facility. Clinician-rated and self-report measures of desire for hastened death, depression, hopelessness, spiritual well-being, social support, pain, and physical symptom burden were administered to assess the factors that correspond to a high desire for death. The prevalence ranged from 4.6% to 8.3%, significantly lower than in previous studies of patients with advanced or terminal cancer. Multivariate models revealed significant and unique effects for both hopelessness and depression, with these variables accounting for a large proportion of the variance in each model. Authors discuss the implications of these findings for palliative care practice and the assisted-suicide debate.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Fordham University, Bronx, NY 10458, USA. rosenfeld@fordham.edu
authors.forename: Barry
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rosenfeld
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Breitbart
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gibson
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kramer
authors.forename: Alexis
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tomarken
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.forename: Hayley
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pessin
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Esch
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Galietta
authors.forename: Nerina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brechtl
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schuster
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001293:Attitude to Death; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D033101:Euthanasia, Active, Voluntary; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009519:New York City / Q000453:epidemiology; D010166:Palliative Care; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D017236:Suicide, Assisted / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D013727:Terminal Care; D019452:Terminally Ill / Q000523:psychology*