Did anyone see this story last week?

It concerned a piece of research published in the Journal of Medical Ethics suggesting that whether or not your doctor has a religious faith may have a significant effect on the care and support you are given at the end of your life.

This from The Guardian-

The significant findings included:

First, whether doctors undertook medical measures that they either intended or expected to hasten the death of a terminally ill patient. It should be stressed that this dealt with entirely legal and ethical practices such as the withdrawal or withholding of, especially onerous, life-sustaining treatment (on the basis of futility or a patient’s autonomous decision to refuse) or the use of high-dose opiate pain control. This was nearly half as likely in non-religious doctors than very religious ones.

Second, whether they had discussed the medical management of the process of death with their terminally ill patients or their relatives. The study suggested that very religious doctors were about four times less likely than all other doctors (the non-religious or the mildly religious) to have had those discussions.

So, doctors with a strong faith have scruples when it comes to ending life, or discussing ‘living wills’ or other such options with patients. No surprises there really.

Atheist doctors are twice as likely to consider ending life early. Which feels very uncomfortable, but the meaning of this in the mess of medical ethics is far from clear. Is this euthanasia by another name? Or is it just a dose of reality, given the shape given to life by advances in medical care- at least for the rich parts of the world?

Does it matter?

Well I think that everyone has a right to be properly consulted and advised, particularly if you are facing the ultimate test of humanity- which is the inevitability of death.

I think this is a helpful study because it brings these difficult issues out of the shadows, and into the light.