Attitudes of health professionals regarding euthanasia

Abstract

Euthanasia or good death is a medical procedure that causes the death of a patient with chronic and incurable diseases. In Ecuador, despite having high rates of chronic and terminal diseases, Euthanasia is not legal; This is because the Constitution of the Republic guarantees the right to a dignified life. The objective of this research was to determine the attitudes towards euthanasia on the part of health professionals. We worked under a quantitative approach and descriptive research, where the questionnaire for evaluating attitudes towards euthanasia (CAE) was applied to 110 teachers from the Medicine, Nursing, Nutrition, Clinical Psychology, Laboratory and Physiotherapy Careers of the Faculty of Life Sciences. Health of the Technical University of Ambato. The results reflected that the majority of teachers accept the practice of euthanasia, the Nursing, Medicine and Clinical Laboratory careers have an incidence greater than 60%. 68.18% of teachers are not influenced by ethical, moral and religious aspects, and the use of palliative care. 50.91% of teachers feel motivated to apply euthanasia in order to reduce pain, physical deterioration and suffering. 53.64% support euthanasia due to family issues that affect the economy and well-being. Finally, through Spearman's Rho coefficient, it was determined that there is a direct relationship between the professional study career and the acceptance of euthanasia.