Australian and New Zealand journal of public health
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Aust N Z J Public Health · Apr 1998
Comparative StudyNurses' attitudes to active voluntary euthanasia: a survey in the ACT.
National public opinion polls show a large majority of Australians are in favour of active voluntary euthanasia (AVE). However, most members of the public have had only limited direct experience with dying people. For this reason, surveys of the opinions of medical practitioners and nurses on this issue are of great interest. ⋯ If AVE were legal, 66% of the nurses indicated they were willing to be involved in the procedure. Only 30% were willing to assist patients to give themselves the lethal dose, while 14% were willing to administer the lethal dose to the patient. Comparing these results with previous surveys, it appears that nurses are less in favour of AVE than the public, but more in favour than medical practitioners.
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Aust N Z J Public Health · Apr 1998
Voluntary euthanasia: responses of medical practitioners in NSW and the ACT to six open-ended questions.
Six open-ended questions from a survey of 1271 randomly selected medical practitioners on active voluntary euthanasia (AVE) and physician-assisted suicide (PAS) was examined. In spite of some extreme written views for and against the procedures, the majority of practitioners were considered, concerned, sympathetic and troubled about AVE and PAS.