Readiness for dialogue regarding euthanasia of palliative patients in Ukraine

Abstract

The aging population of Ukraine and the severity of serious diseases increase the number of palliative patients, who at the end of their lives need to reduce suffering and ensure the ability to die with dignity. The lack of resources and the shortcomings of the mechanisms for the organization of analgesia, etiopathogenetic treatment of palliative and comorbid diseases, full care and support of palliative patients, the presence in the list of palliative diseases that are not amenable to effective analgesia, require an alternative to slow dying with suffering through the use of euthanasia, which is legalized in many countries of the world, but not in Ukraine. An anonymous survey of palliative patients, their relatives (caregivers), medical and social wor­kers, volunteers, priests who provide services to palliative patients, scientists who research issues of palliative medicine was conducted in order to determine the attitude towards the possibility of legalizing euthanasia in Ukraine and the desired format of public dialogue about such legalization. A low readiness for public dialogue was established both among palliative patients and their relatives, and among specialists who provide them with medical, social, and spiritual assistance. Parents of children with palliative diagnoses (in comparison with adult palliative patients and their guardians), religious patients and their relatives (guardians) in comparison with atheists, and priests demonstrate the lowest indicators of readiness for dialogue about euthanasia. In order to activate the public dialogue about dignified dying and the right to euthanasia, we offer a scientific analysis of foreign practices of euthanasia of palliative patients, which includes a comparison of the needs for palliative and hospice care for adults and children in these countries and in Ukraine, patient satisfaction with treatment, care and support, and public presentation of the results of such studies. Keywords: palliative and hospice care, foreign practices, sociological research.