• J Palliat Med · Jul 2021

    Assisted Suicide: A Future Task for Physicians? A Survey of 271 German Medical Students.

    • Tamara Thurn and Johanna Anneser.
    • Palliative Care Unit, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
    • J Palliat Med. 2021 Jul 1; 24 (7): 1051-1055.

    AbstractBackground: In February 2020, the German Federal Constitutional Court revoked a law that had made assisted suicide (AS) a potentially punishable offense. As a result, appropriate legal regulations for AS, including physician-assisted suicide (PAS), must be made. The medical curriculum should be adapted correspondingly. Objective: To explore medical students' knowledge of the legal situation, attitudes toward PAS and wishes regarding PAS education. Design: A cross-sectional survey was conducted. Setting: A questionnaire was distributed to all fourth-year students (n = 331) at a German medical school. Results: Students had a predominantly favorable attitude toward PAS. A majority considered AS to be a task that should be assigned to doctors (71%) and were willing to perform PAS (68%). Education on PAS was explicitly desired. Most participants had only limited knowledge of the legal situation. Conclusions: Medical students are largely in favor of PAS. A structured and interdisciplinary approach to PAS education is needed.

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