Modern bioethical issues: Euthanasia, physician assisted suicide and abortion. Comparative study of attitudes between physicians and law professionals

Abstract

We aimed to examine and compare the attitudes of physicians and law professionals on modern bioethical issues. Euthanasia, physician assisted suicide and abortion were selected for this study, as they underline the conflict between human life as a fundamental value, and the individual's right to self-determination. The demand of euthanasia and physician assisted suicide services reflects each person's right to decide on the way their life will end, while the legalization of abortion determines the individual's right to self-determination. These are complex issues with moral, religious and social implications, and as such tend to divide public opinion. In order to investigate their attitudes, physicians of all specialties, as well as law professionals from all over Greece, were invited to participate in the study. In total, 220 professionals responded to the call and participated in the survey. The professionals involved showed fairly high rates of agreement in all the issues studied, but a significant difference in results was found when the occupation of participants was set as a criterion, with physicians being more negative to euthanasia, physician assisted suicide and abortion than lawyers. Religiousness, age and male sex were negatively correlated with "positive" attitudes towards euthanasia, physician assisted suicide and abortion. Moreover, participants' attitudes towards euthanasia and physician assisted suicide were found to predict their attitudes towards abortion, indicating a single ideological direction of agreement or disagreement, accordingly. Individuals' attitudes and opinions are complicated issues, not easy to be categorized. However, it is of scientific interest to shape a legislative framework that is close to the social consensus, ideological evolution and moral needs. This study tried to pave the way for a modern approach to the issues of euthanasia, physician assisted suicide and abortion.