• Karl H Beine.
• Lehrstuhl für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Universität Witten/Herdecke (bis 2019).
• Dtsch. Med. Wochenschr. 2020 Nov 1; 145 (22): e123-e129.

BackgroundActive euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are controversially discussed in Germany. Empirical studies are missing to estimate their respective incidence, including passive and indirect euthanasia in German hospitals. Physicians and nurses in German hospitals were surveyed regarding their practice of euthanasia and possible influence factors.MethodInformation on euthanasia practice was obtained using descriptive terms and related definitions in an anonymous online survey. Participants' objective and subjective occupational situations and support of euthanasia were recorded. The final samples comprised N = 2507 physicians and N = 2683 nurses.ResultThe practice of passive and indirect euthanasia was reported by a large number of physicians and nurses during the last 24 months, active euthanasia and assisted suicide was reported by substantially less participants. Variance among the practice of active euthanasia could be explained by occupational factors and the respective advocacy of euthanasia amongst other variables, but not by subjective burden.DiscussionEuthanasia is practiced by physicians and nurses in German hospitals. The Incidence of different types of euthanasia and relevant influence factors are discussed considering methodical limitations.The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commecial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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