[Euthanasia and the Dakar medical staff]

DEROBERT defines euthanasia as an "ability to get painless death for incurable patients, who are suffering from a fatal illness with unbearable bodily aches that can't be mitigated by any means". Passive euthanasia fits with doctor's abstention of any curative therapy for non curable patients at the end of life. It is different from active euthanasia in which physicians themselves get quick death for patients by giving them any drugs. This work was done in the main hospital centers in Dakar; the aim is to determine the position of medical staff about euthanasia and it's legislation. For this purpose an anonymous questionnaire was dispatched to 126 workers choosen at random in these hospitals. The result of this inquiry is that most of them (84%) are against euthanasia and agree with the idea of waiting for death at home. Religious reasons explain non practice of euthanasia.