ETHIC EVALUATION OF EUTHANASIA BY MODERN medical students

Abstract

An anonymous sociological inquiry of the 1st, 3rd and 6th year SPBGPMU students (300 respondents), as well as 200 technical university students and 100 humanitarian university students (control group). It showed that modern medical students consider euthanasia a socially significant problem, but they are not adequately competent in this matter. Most of them are not familiar with the concept of euthanasia, its criteria, and the differences between active and passive euthanasia. Contrary to the existing legal and ethical prohibitions, most students demonstrate tolerate or positive attitude towards euthanasia. This attitude depends on a number of medico-social factors, the most significant of which is their attitude towards religion. Students are tolerate both towards passive and active euthanasia. Among women, compared with men, as well as among religious persons compared with non-believers and doubters, the proportion of euthanasia supporters is lower. There are no significant differences between medical students, in comparison with the students of
the humanitarian and technical universities. Most of SPBGPMU students identified palliative care as the main alternative to euthanasia. Our study has shown the need for more active coverage of the problem of euthanasia in the process of training medical students in courses of bioethics, medical law, and also in clinical departments. It is also necessary to cover this problem more openly among all groups of the population in order to initiate a broad discussion upon such actual problem as euthanasia.