| Euthanasia and assisted-suicide by physicians or others are widely practiced in the USA, though still illegal in all states with the exception of Oregon. Various factors have been alleged to influence the desire of terminally ill patients for euthanasia/ assisted-suicide. However, there have been no studies in which this information has been obtained directly from the patient, nor has the desire for euthanasia/assisted-suicide been correlated with these factors.;The hypotheses to be tested were: the degree of desire for euthanasia/assisted-suicide by terminally ill cancer patients will (a) correlate directly with degree of fear of losing dignity and becoming a burden ("fear of becoming a burden"); (b) correlate inversely with degree of open, honest, interpersonal communication; (c) correlate inversely with strength of spiritual belief; (d) correlate directly with degree of mood disturbance; and (e) correlate directly with degree of unmanaged pain.;Three instruments consisting of multiple questions developed by myself for assessing (a) the desire for euthanasia/assisted-suicide; (b) fear of becoming a burden; and (c) open, honest, interpersonal communication, had acceptable Cronbach alpha levels of 0.897, 0.749, and 0.628, respectively. Previously validated instruments were used to assess strength of spiritual belief, degree of mood disturbance, and degree of unmanaged pain.;Twenty-seven terminally ill cancer patients were recruited for this study. Trained research assistants administered the instruments to patients in their homes and recorded their responses.;The correlation analyses revealed a high and statistically significant (p ;I conclude from this study that the fear of being helpless, losing dignity, and becoming a burden is an important factor in determining the degree of desire for euthanasia/assisted-suicide. While the current focus of care is on pain management and alleviation of mood disturbance, additional efforts should now be made to help terminally ill patients feel less helpless, undignified, and burdensome. |
