ArticleSchmerz (Berlin, Germany)2015
[Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide : Attitudes of physicians and nurses].
Article in Schmerz (Berlin, Germany), 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- Shaping a knowable event or embracing a mysterious journey: A mixed methods study on palliative care clinician views on voluntary assisted dying.Palliative & supportive care · 2025Article
- Experience reports from active volunteer members in German right-to-die organisations through qualitative content analysis.BMC medical ethics · 2025Article
- Handling the desire to die- evaluation of an elective course for medical students.BMC medical education · 2024Article
- Survey on German Palliative Care Specialists' Experiences with Advance Directives.Pain and therapy · 2017Article
- Physician-assisted suicide, euthanasia and palliative sedation: attitudes and knowledge of medical students.GMS journal for medical education · 2016Article
- Palliative care professionals' willingness to perform euthanasia or physician assisted suicide.BMC palliative care · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe current debate about end-of-life decisions in Germany focuses on physician-assisted suicide (PAS). However, there is only limited information available on physicians' attitudes towards euthanasia or PAS, and no data on nurses' attitudes.
objectivesThe aim is to explore attitudes of physicians and nurses with a special interest in palliative care and pain medicine using a case-related questionnaire.
methodsAn anonymous questionnaire, consisting of eight questions, was distributed to all participants of a palliative care congress and a pain symposium. The questions focused on two scenarios: (1) a patient with an incurable fatal illness, (2) a patient with an incurable but nonfatal illness. The question was: Should euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide (PAS) be allowed. In addition, the participants were asked what they wanted for themselves if they were the patient concerned.
resultsA total of 317 questionnaires were analyzed; the return rate was 70 %. The general support for euthanasia and PAS was high: 40.5 % supported euthanasia in case of a fatal illness ("definitely…", "probably should be allowed"), 53.5 % supported PAS. The support decreased in case of a nonfatal illness; however, it increased when the participants were asked about their attitudes if they were the patient concerned. Nurses were more open towards euthanasia and PAS. In physicians the rejection of PAS was directly related to a higher level of qualification in the field of palliative care.
conclusionThe fact that nurses had a more positive attitude towards euthanasia and PAS and that all respondents accepted life-ending acts for themselves more than for their patients hints to still existing severe deficits in Germany.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.