The Public and Nurses ’ Viewpoints of Euthanasia Heo, Yang - Hee The Catholic University of Korea, Graduate School

Necessities of Research  Compare and analyze the public and nurses ’ viewpoints of Euthanasia  Bring social acceptance in Euthanasia

Purposes of Research  Levels of acceptance in Euthanasia  Reasons for patient ’ s demand of Euthanasia  Attitudes toward Euthanasia  Levels of Acceptance in Living will  Differences in Acceptance of Living will

Definitions  Active Euthanasia : aim to discontinue life, injection of poisons  Passive Euthanasia : neglect to delay the procedure of death, removal of ventilator or feeding tube  Living will : states clauses about his(her) life indicates his(her) desires incurable disease

Research Methods 1. Architect of Research Descriptive research for comparison in the public and nurses ’ opinions about Euthanasia through questionnaire

Research Methods 2. Research Targets  220 nurses who are caring patients in terminal stage at 2 general hospitals(Seoul City) and 1 general hospital(Kyonggi Province)  200 ordinary people excluding medical employees

Research Tool  Use Ms. Lee,Gum-ja ’ s Tool  Components of questionnaire - Demographic characteristics : public(7), nurses(6) - Euthanasia-related questions : 4 - Attitudes toward Euthanasia : 25 - Cronbach ’ s α :.68

Collection of Questionnaire Period: July 8, ’ 05 ~ July 15, ’ 05  Rate of Responsiveness : 95.5% - Nurses :196 out of Public :186 out of 200

Analysis of Questionnaire  SPSS Program - Demographic characteristics : real number, percentage - Levels of acceptance in Euthanasia : real number, percentage, χ² - Reasons for demand of Euthanasia : real number, percentage - Differences in attitude toward Euthanasia : average, standard deviation, t-test - Levels of Living will : real number, percentage, χ ² - Differences in levels of Living will : real number, percentage, χ ²

Limitation in Research Since the research has been carried out by nurses working at 3 general hospitals (2 in Seoul,1 in Gyonggi Province) and the public excluding patients and medical employees, it is not very easy to consider its results general.

Research Results

Demographic Features in Research Targets

him(her)self family member items n % n % yes no total p. euthanasia a. euthanasia total The public respondents ’ levels of acceptance in Euthanasia for him(her)self and for family member

him(her)self family member items n % n % yes no total passive euthanasia active euthanasia total The nurses ’ levels of acceptance in Euthanasia for him(her)self and for family member

public nurses item χ ² ( p) item χ ² ( p) marital status (.013) age (.045) children (.009) years of work (.04) level of education (.046) dept.of work (.035) Levels of acceptance in Euthanasia for him(her)self based on demographic characteristics

items active passive euthanasia % euthanasia % marital status married 56.5 single 64.6 children yes 57.8 none 63.8 level of edu. below high sch above college 54.7 The public respondents’ levels of acceptance in Euthanasia for him(her)self based on demographic characteristics

items P. Euthanasia % items P. Euthanasia % age 20s 62.5 dept.of IM s 78.1 work OBGY 87.5 above40s 100 PED 82.0 years of 1 ~ 3yrs 74.1 NS 65.2 work 4 ~ 7yrs 65.6 SICU ~11yrs 76.5 ER 70.0 above12yrs 90.5 HD 100 GS 67.9 OS 20.0 The nurses ’ levels of acceptance in Euthanasia for him(her)self based on demographic characteristics

items χ ² p p. euthanasia % age s s s 61.9 above 50s 56 marital status married 61.8 single 84.2 children yes 57.6 none 85.4 occupation clerical worker 85.7 govt/teacher 74.1 services 64.5 none 56.3 others 80 The public respondents ’ levels of acceptance in Euthanasia for family member based on demographic characteristics

The nurses ’ levels of acceptance in Euthanasia for family member based on demographic characteristics Dept.of work χ² : p :.048  Passive Euthanasia (%) IM OBGY PED NS ER HD GS OS

public nurses items χ ² p yes(%) items χ ² p yes(%) gender male 85.5 gender male 75 female 92.7 female 93.2 marital married 92.9 status single 84.9 Levels of Acceptance in Living will based on demographic characteristics

yes no items χ ² ( p ) n % n % public ( ) nurses Levels of Acceptance in Living will based on the public and nurses’ characteristics

Reasons for patients’ demand of Euthanasia publicnurses rankcontents% % Present pains Loss of significance in life Worry about burdensome existence Fear about symptoms Same as left Loss of self-dignity Same as left

The pubic and nurses’ attitudes toward Euthanasia 1 contents M tp publicnurses  Can ’ t give up patient because miracle happens in any way  Will be feeling unpleasant to discontinue patient ’ s life for any reasons  Could take care of patient passively due to least possibility of recovery

The pubic and nurses’ attitudes toward Euthanasia Ⅱ contents M tp publicnurses  Will feel unable while watching hopeless patient who seems to be asking me to discontinue his(her) life  Practice of legal euthanasia will cause collapse of trusts between medical staff and patient  Science of medicine should not be used to discontinue life

Results  Levels of Acceptance in Euthanasia: Positive (personal > family member)  Reasons for patient’s demand of Euthanasia - Present pains > Loss of significance in life  Attitudes toward Euthanasia - Positive, Survey showed 6 items  Levels of Acceptance in Living Will: Positive

Conclusion  Choice of Life Dependent on patient ’ s own opinion  Acceptance of Euthanasia in society Objective, moral indicators Society and government ’ s responsibility Law and regulations to prevent hidden practice of euthanasia should be made

Suggestion  Steadfast concerns and research about socially- accepted values and philosophy about life and death  Survey and analysis of euthanasia-related cases  Continuous educate nurses about euthanasia of Bioethics