Attitudes towards care of the dying: a questionnaire survey of general practice attenders.

In order to determine the views of General Practice attenders on death and dying, a survey was conducted using a questionnaire with nine questions on aspects of death and dying. There were 4117 respondents with an average age of 36.4 years, who attended 10 general practices. A control group of 100 patients was employed. There was a stated preference for management by the General Practitioner and a wish to die in the home. An honest approach by doctors was called for and the greatest fear concerning death was that of leaving the family. A subgroup of people who stated that they had close personal experience of death or dying, amplified most of these findings.