Physicians' attitudes towards euthanasia in Kuwait

Objectives: The attitudes of physicians in Kuwait towards euthanasia were examined. An additional objective was to examine whether physician characteristics such as nationality, qualifications, years of experience and/or religion affect their attitude toward euthanasia. A comparison was also made between the experience of physicians who generally treat terminally ill patients and those who generally treat non-terminally ill patients in terms of attitudes toward hastening death to alleviate suffering. Methods: A descriptive study using a self-administered questionnaire was conducted among 228 physicians working in 5 selected government hospitals. The response was 92%. Results: Nearly 92% of all the respondents did not support the provision of means for terminally ill patients to commit suicide while 8% did. A majority favored providing pain killers and comfort even if this hastens the patient's death. About 20% of the physicians felt that the Ministry of Health should allow euthanasia under certain restricted conditions. About 47% of Hindu, 23% of Christian and 17% of Muslim physicians agreed to the legalization of euthanasia. Approximately 27% of physicians who were frequently exposed and 10% of those who were rarely exposed to terminally ill patients reported that they had been asked to hasten death. Physicians in Kuwait have not dealt with euthanasia as much as physicians in other countries such as Australia and are much less favorable towards it. Conclusion: The findings of this survey indicate that a minority of physicians in Kuwait believe that euthanasia should be legalized under certain conditions. Thus, there is a need for the medical community and the Ministry of Health to recognize and deal with this controversial topic. Copyright (C) 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel.