Attitudes among Swedish medical students towards assisted dying

Abstract: IntroductionOver the last decades a positive shift in attitudes towards legalisation of assisted dying (AD) (AD including euthanasia (EUT) and physician-assisted suicide (PAS)) have occurred in western Europe. Physicians are generally more negative than the general public toward legalisation. Medical students’ attitudes, as future practitioners, are important to assess when addressing this ethically complex issue.AimThe aim was to explore the attitudes among medical students at Örebro university, Sweden regarding assisted dying and their stance on the legalisation of assisted dying and to evaluate if religious beliefs, current term of study, gender, and a shift of legal framing would affect medical students´ attitudes.MethodsA cross-sectional online-based anonymous survey containing eight different patient scenarios was distributed to all medical students enlisted at Örebro university Sweden (n=657). Association between demographics and positive attitudes towards AD was tested using logistic regression, and McNemar for difference of proportion in attitudes between various scenario framings.ResultsThirty five percent (n=229) of the medical students responded with completed questionnaires. Sixty percent of the respondents believed PAS for terminally ill patients should be legalized in Sweden. Shifting of legal framing resulted in statistically significant differences of position in all eight scenarios (p<0.05). Strong religious beliefs were associated with decreased likelihood for positive attitudes towards AD in scenario 1-6 (p<0.05).ConclusionsMost respondents in this study believed PAS should be legalised. Held attitudes toward AD were affected by religious beliefs and legal framework. Additional studies to further explore medical students´ attitudes are deemed necessary.