[The closeness to medical profession and the attitude towards euthanasia]

Periodically debates on the legalization of active euthanasia are conducted in the Austrian media. In contrast to most European and North American countries, these debates are not based on local empirical data, because until now no studies on respective attitudes and values exist. In this study notion towards active euthanasia of (1) medical lays, (2) medical students and medical specialists in psychiatry, surgery and internal medicine are explored by means of a semistructured questionnaire. We found that increasing closeness to the medical profession is associated with an increasing refusal of active euthanasia. Among the medical specialists, specialists in internal medicine, who, after the legalization, would be most involved in decision-making processes as well as in the execution of active euthanasia, showed the greatest reservation concerning this question.