Academic Physician Perspectives on the Legalization and Practice of Physician-Assisted Suicide

In fewer than 20 years, five US states have legalized or decriminalized physician-assisted suicide (PAS), and in 2015, about half of all state legislatures considered legalizing it. Since it is medical doctors who typically perform PAS, it is important to understand physicians' views regarding legalization and willingness to perform it. The objective of this study was to determine what physicians believe about the legalization and practice of physician-assisted suicide. A 22 multiple-choice question survey was sent to 1251 current faculty physicians at the Yale School of Medicine. Four hundred and eighty-eight (39%) responded. The majority of physician respondents (73%) agreed that it is sometimes necessary to hasten death in order to relieve suffering. Of that 73%, only 29% indicated that they would actually perform physician-assisted suicide.