[Survey among Argentine physicians on medical decisions concerning the end of life in patients: active and passive euthanasia, and relief of symptoms].

Euthanasia and other medical decisions concerning the end of life (MDEL) have been poorly developed in the Argentine medical literature. On that basis, and presuming that MDEL occur frequently in the medical practice in our country (in spite of insufficient pre and postgraduate medical education on the matter), we have developed a survey on MDEL. It was conformed by a 13 multiple-choice question poll, which was answered by 172 physicians from Buenos Aires, suburban locations and La Plata. The questionnaire began with a professional profile and subsequently developed questions on medical, legal, ethical, religious and sociologic aspects of MDEL. The questions were based on the main or more frequent topics referred to MDEL, according to the medical literature between 1989 and 1994, researched through Medline. The poll was anonymous. Most of the questions could be answered based on the physician's attitudes toward MDEL; some required specific knowledge on the subject (as in the questions on legal matters). Three different MDEL were defined for this survey: active Euthanasia, Passive Euthanasia and Relief of Symptoms. Results showed that MDEL are frequent (69%) of the physicians have performed Relief of Symptoms, 58% Passive Euthanasia, and 7% Active Euthanasia) and that the physician's knowledge on the subject is poor and sparse. We concluded that more research on MDEL is needed in Argentina in order to support changes in medical education and legal background.