Indian J Palliative Care | December 2008 | Vol. 14 | Issue 2 71 Original Article Attitudes towards euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide among Pakistani and Indian doctors: A survey Syed Qamar Abbas, Zafar Abbas 1 , Stanley Macaden 2 Deputy Medical Director, St Clare Hospice, Hastingwood, Essex, UK, 1 Assistant Professor in Medicine, Muhammad Medical College, Mirpurkhas, Pakistan, 2 Head of Palliative Care Programme, Bangalore Baptist Hospital, Bangalore, India Correspondence to: Dr. Syed Qamar Abbas Deputy Medical Director, St Clare Hospice, Hastingwood, Essex CM17 9JX, UK. E-mail: sqabbas@stclare-hospice.co.uk Abstract Aim: This study attempts to assess the attitude of Pakistani and Indian doctors to euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. Methods: We used a questionnaire survey that included one case history of a patient with cancer and another of one suffering from motor neurone disease (MND). Results: Fifty-two of 100 doctors from Pakistan returned the completed questionnaires. Eight of the 52 (15.3%) doctors agreed with the concept of euthanasia being an acceptable option for the patient with MND. Six of the 52 (11.5%) supported a similar approach for the cancer patient. From India, 60/100 doctors returned the completed questionnaires. Sixteen of the 60 (26.6%) doctors supported euthanasia as an option for the patient with MND whereas 15 (25%) supported a similar option for the cancer patient. Conclusion: We conclude that only a minority of the doctors support euthanasia. This group belongs to a younger age group. In Pakistan, they were more likely to be males. The religion of the doctors did not appear to be a determining factor. Key Words: Doctors, euthanasia, India, Pakistan, perception, physician-assisted suicide Introduction In 2002, the Netherlands became the first country to legalise euthanasia. Following this, the rest of the world began to debate the attitudes toward euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide. There is a lot of data from the western world discussing healthcare professionals’ or lay people’s attitudes toward euthanasia. The Nursing Times in the United Kingdom reported the results of a poll of 2700 nurses that established that two out of three nurses think that euthanasia should be legalised. [1] In addition, 80% of the British public surveyed in a recent report support changes in existing laws that legalise the option of euthanasia for terminally ill patients. [2] However, a study from the United States of America, which surveyed 2333 oncology nurses, suggested that only 30% support assisted suicide and 23% approve of euthanasia. [3] A similar study in Japan showed that 25.7% resident doctors surveyed supported the concept of euthanasia whereas 48% of first-year medical students supported the idea. [4] Despite working in resource-poor settings, doctors from developing countries have provided good clinical [Downloaded free from http://www.jpalliativecare.com on Tuesday, April 14, 2009]