(Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Filosofia)
(Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Departamento de Salud Pública y Materno-infantil)
| Date: |
2024 |
| Description: |
14 pàg. |
| Abstract: |
Background In 2021, Spain became the first Southern European country to grant and provide the right to euthanasia and medically assisted suicide. According to the law, the State has the obligation to ensure its access through the health services, which means that healthcare professionals' participation is crucial. Nevertheless, its implementation has been uneven. Our research focuses on understanding possible ethical conflicts that shape different positions towards the practice of Medical Assistance in Dying, on identifying which core ideas may be underlying them, and on suggesting possible reasons for this disparity. The knowledge acquired contributes to understanding its complexity, shedding light into ambivalent profiles and creating strategies to increase their participation. Methods We conducted an exploratory qualitative research study by means of semi-structured interviews (1 h) with 25 physicians and nurses from primary care (12), hospital care (7), and palliative care (6), 17 women and 8 men, recruited from Madrid, Catalonia, and Andalusia between March and May 2023. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and coded in Atlas. ti software by means of thematic and interpretative methods to develop a conceptual model. Results We identified four approaches to MAiD: Full Support (FS), Conditioned Support (CS), Conditioned Rejection (CR), and Full Rejection (FR). Full Support and Full Rejection fitted the traditional for and against positions on MAiD. Nevertheless, there was a gray area in between represented by conditioned profiles, whose participation cannot be predicted beforehand. The profiles were differentiated considering their different interpretations of four core ideas: end-of-life care, religion, professional duty/deontology, and patient autonomy. These ideas can intersect, which means that participants' positions are multicausal and complex. Divergences between profiles can be explained by different sources of moral authority used in their moral reasoning and their individualistic or relational approach to autonomy. Conclusions There is ultimately no agreement but rather a coexistence of plural moral perspectives regarding MAiD among healthcare professionals. Comprehending which cases are especially difficult to evaluate or which aspects of the law are not easy to interpret will help in developing new strategies, clarifying the legal framework, or guiding moral reasoning and education with the aim of reducing unpredictable non-participations in MAID. |
| Grants: |
Agencia Estatal de Investigación PID2020-118729RB-I00
Agencia Estatal de Investigación PID2019-105422GB-I00
|
| Note: |
Altres ajuts: This work has been developed in the framework of the following research projects: CONFINES (FD9/21_03), funded by the Programa de Ayudas a Proyectos de Investigación Científica 2021 (BBVA Foundation). |
| Rights: |
Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.  |
| Language: |
Anglès |
| Document: |
Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada |
| Subject: |
Euthanasia ;
Assisted suicide ;
Medical Assistance in Dying ;
Bioethics ;
Relational autonomy ;
Qualitative study |
| Published in: |
BMC Medical Ethics, Vol. 25 (june 2024) , art. e69, ISSN 1472-6939 |
| Related work: |
Parra Jounou, Iris,; Triviño Caballero, Rosana; Cruz Piqueras, Maite. «Correction to: For, against, and beyond : healthcare professionals' positions on Medical Assistance in Dying in Spain». BMC Medical Ethics, Vol. 25 (september 2024), art. e99 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-024-01097-x |
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(Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Filosofia)
