Euthanasia and end-of-life decisions in terminal illness situations: Exploring attitudes of patients and relatives

Although euthanasia is an increasingly debated issue, there is little information on the beliefs held by patients with advanced diseases and their relatives on it. As part of the ILive project, our research team aimed at filling that gap by conducting a study on the degree of agreement among Argentine patients with terminal illnesses and their relatives on end-of-life medical decisions using the Attitudes toward Euthanasia (ATE) scale. Data analysis showed that 77 of 153 patients (50.3%) and 73 of 139 patients' relatives (52.5%) scored higher than 30 on the scale. Agreement with performing euthanasia was positively associated with living alone but negatively related to religiosity among both the relative and the patient samples. These results suggest a tendency to agree with practices that allow or assist with dying, including euthanasia. We hope that this study will contribute to a more comprehensive and nuanced discussion on these controversial topics.