title: Why do older people oppose physician-assisted dying? A qualitative study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Physician-assisted dying at the end of life has become a significant issue of public discussion. While legally available in a number of countries and jurisdictions, it remains controversial and illegal in New Zealand.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The study aimed to explore the reasons some healthy older New Zealanders oppose physician-assisted dying in order to inform current debate.
  
  
  METHODS
  Recorded interviews were transcribed and analysed by the authors after some edits had been made by respondents.
  
  
  METHODS
  In all, 11 older participants (over 65 years) who responded to advertisements placed in Grey Power magazines and a University of Auckland email list were interviewed for around 1 h and asked a number of open-ended questions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four central themes opposing physician-assisted dying were identified from the interviews: one's personal experience with health care and dying and death, religious reasoning and beliefs, slippery slope worries and concern about potential abuses if physician-assisted dying were legalised.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  An important finding of the study suggests that how some older individuals think about physician-assisted dying is strongly influenced by their past experiences of dying and death. While some participants had witnessed good, well-managed dying and death experiences which confirmed for them the view that physician-assisted dying was unnecessary, those who had witnessed poor dying and death experiences opposed physician-assisted dying on the grounds that such practices could come to be abused by others.
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Psychological Medicine, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Phillipa J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Malpas
authors.forename: Maria K R
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rae
authors.forename: Malcolm
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged / Q000523:psychology*; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001293:Attitude to Death; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009520:New Zealand; D036301:Qualitative Research; D017236:Suicide, Assisted / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Physician-assisted dying; death; dying; euthanasia