The acceptability of physician-assisted suicide as a function of circumstances: A preliminary study of Turkish students’ views

The views of young Turkish people on the acceptability of physicianassisted suicide (PAS) in the case of patients suffering from intractable pain or in a state of complete dependence were examined. Ninety-nine participants aged 18-25 were presented with scenarios depicting different situations in which a patient, who suffered from an illness that left her in a state of complete dependence or in a state of severe physical pain, requested for a life-ending procedure. In these scenarios age, curability of the disease and whether or not the patient actually requested PAS were furthermore manipulated. Participants were asked to indicate the extent to which PAS would be an acceptable procedure in each scenario. A relative majority of participants (31%) expressed the view that, irrespective of circumstances, PAS was never acceptable. A substantial minority of participants (27%) expressed the view that PAS was practically always acceptable under the circumstances described in the scenarios (unbearable physical pain or complete dependence). A smaller minority of participants (17%) expressed the view that PAS is acceptable under the condition that the suffering patient repeatedly requests it, and another minority (24%) expressed the view that PAS is acceptable under the condition that the patient is old (i.e., 85 years).