title: National survey of medical choices in caring for terminally ill patients in Italy, a cross-sectional study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In Italy, euthanasia and assisted suicide remain illegal but have been the subject of constant debate. Such discussions, however, seem to take relatively little account of physicians' views and attitudes.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used an anonymous questionnaire to survey the attitudes and practices concerning euthanasia and the care of terminally ill patients of 5000 Italian physicians from among the approximately 20,000 members of seven of the most important Italian scientific societies. They were asked to complete an anonymous questionnaire consisting of 15 items, which also collected demographic and professional information.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The response rate was 23.5%, and 855 questionnaires were returned. The respondents (75% males) had a median age of 51 years and 47% practiced medicine in a hospital or university setting. The survey showed that the attitude of Italian physicians towards caring for terminal patients is generally against the practice of euthanasia insofar as 84% and 87%, respectively, would, on a theoretical basis, be unwilling to prescribe or administer lethal drugs. Only 1.2-2% of the physicians declared that they had resorted at least once to active euthanasia practices consisting of the prescription and/or direct administration of lethal drugs during their professional lives, and 0.5-0.9% during the previous year. The main factor significantly influencing the opinions and behaviors of the physicians was religion.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To our knowledge, this is the first Italian survey investigating the opinions and practices on euthanasia of a large sample of physicians from all over the country, belonging to various medical specialties. Our findings confirm the considerable influence of religion on physician's opinions and practice concerning end-of-life care.
authors.affiliation: Luigi Migone Bioethics Center, Parma , Italy. giorgio.cocconi@tin.it
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cocconi
authors.forename: Caterina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Caminiti
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zaninetta
authors.forename: Rodolfo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Passalacqua
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cascinu
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Campione
authors.forename: Renata
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Todeschini
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zani
authors.forename: Tiberio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: d'Aloia
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Migone
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D017051:Hospice Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010819:Physician's Role; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017236:Suicide, Assisted / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D019452:Terminally Ill; D028761:Withholding Treatment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data