2Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi, Adli Tıp Bölümü İZMİR Introduction: With the legalization of active euthanasia in the Netherlands and Belgium in recent years, euthanasia has become a subject of discussion again. It is important that physicians, particularly oncologists express their opinion about euthanasia. The aim of this study was to reveal what pneumologists who worked in oncology clinics thought about euthanasia.
Materials and Method: A questionnaire was distributed to 110 pneumologists and obtained data were analysed with SPSS.
Results: The mean age of the pneumologists included in the study was 32.90±7.01 years. Of the pneumologists, 40.8% were against euthanasia and 46.7% believed that euthanasia was performed in Turkey although it was illegal. Thirty-one point five percent of the pneumologists working in oncology clinics and 14.3% of the pneumologists working in clinics other than oncology clinics faced euthanasia requests.
Conclusion: The opinions of physicians taking care of terminally ill patients on euthanasia and patient rights are very important. Frequent requests for euthanasia and the physicians' belief that euthanasia is performed secretly in Turkey demonstrate that euthanasia should be discussed openly and attitude and approach towards euthanasia should be investigated.
Keywords : Euthanasia; Patient rights; Attitude; Physician-patient relation