A STUDY TO ASSESS THE LEVEL OF ATTITUDE TOWARDS EUTHANASIA AMONG HEALTH PERSONNEL

Abstract

Most people would probably want to live to a ripe old age, and then die painlessly in their sleep. Unfortunately, this is not the reality most people face. Some people will die after a long struggle with a painful disease. Euthanasia has become a complex global issue for the 21st century, with different cultures wrestling with variety of ethical, religious and legal factors involved in helping someone to die legally. The role of health personnel in euthanasia would ultimately cause more harm than good. Euthanasia is fundamentally incompatible with the physician's role as healer, would be difficult or impossible to control, and would pose serious societal risks.Aim: it aims at contributing to the current literature in regard to euthanasia through shedding the light onto the attitude towards euthanasia among health personnel.Material and Methods: An exploratory descriptive design was used to conduct this study non probability ampling technique was employed, the sample consisted of 70 Health Personnel including Doctor & Nurses who are working in Government and Private health institutions at Puducherry. After obtaining informed consent data was collected using with self structured questionnaire for demographic variables of the samples and the Euthanasia attitude scale (EAS) developed by Holloway, Hay slip, Murdock et al 1995,was utilized to measure the attitude of a person has towards end of life decisions.Results: The study findings revealed that out of 70 health personnel 42 (60%) had Positive attitude and 28 (40%) had Negative attitude towards euthanasia.Conclusion: Health personnel had positive attitude towards euthanasia in certain circumstances for terminally ill clients with unbearable pain