• Cristina Canova, Guido Miccinesi, Patrizia Bensenati, Silva Franchini, Silvano Piffer, Lorenzo Simonato, Roberta Tessari, Danila Valenti, and Eugenio Paci.
• Dipartimento medicina ambientale, Università degli studi di Padova. cristina.canova@unipd.it
• Epidemiol Prev. 2006 Jul 1;30(4-5):269-78.

ObjectiveKnowing the physicians' opinions on end-of-life decisions.DesignIn 2002, in the context of an European collaborative study (EURELD) a structured questionnaire has been sent to the physicians of the 9 specialties mostly involved in the assistance of terminal patients. The questionnaire asked to express an opinion on 13 statements on end-of-life decisions and to express his/her intention to behave about 4 hypothetical clinical cases.Settingfour Italian centres: Florence-Prato, Venice, Trento and Bologna.Participants1508 questionnaires were studied, the response rate ranged between 34% (Firenze) to 50% (Trento).ResultsIn the univariate analysis, there were no significant differences between centres for the 13 statements on end-of-life decisions. In all centres, about one third physicians accepted euthanasia; about one half supported advance directives whereas most physicians would have withheld treatment on the request of patient or intensified the alleviation of symptom and pain. The intended behaviours of withholding treatment, intensifying the alleviation of pain/symptoms, euthanasia, deep sedation until death were more frequently expressed in case of the request of patient than on the physicians own initiative or on request of the familyConclusionThe physicians' attitudes were homogeneous between the various centers and they may well be representative of the phenomenon which has been investigated, at least in Northern-Central Italy.

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