Source: www.medpagetoday.com
UNITED STATES, August 27, 2010: The religious beliefs of a doctor can play a part in end-of-life care discussions for terminally ill patients, a British study published this week in the Journal of Medical Ethics determined. Doctors who identified themselves as agnostic or atheist were two times more likely to talk about life-ending care than those who had strong religious beliefs.
Although ethnicity was unrelated, in general, to end-of-life decision-making, degree of religiosity did appear to influence it.
As such, Dr. Clive Seale, the study’s author, concluded that both religious and non-religious physicians alike should be required to disclose their views to patients–whose views he refers to as being “of paramount importance”–early on in the treatment process.
Seale mailed surveys to 8,857 British general practitioners, neurologists, elderly care specialists, palliative care specialists, and physicians from “other hospital” specialities; 42.1% responded. Compared with respondents to the British Social Attitudes survey of the U.K. general population, the physician respondents were less likely to be Christian (51.6% versus 71.6%), but more likely to be Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, or Muslim.
Dr. R. Sean Morrison, president of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine and director of the National Palliative Care Research Center, agreed with Seale’s conclusion about disclosure. “Physicians have feelings,” Morrison said. “Physicians have beliefs. And those feelings and beliefs can influence some of the advice and decisions they make. But the key is not to let those feelings and beliefs guide your care, but to recognize when it’s happening and how it might be in conflict with the patient’s best interest.”