Skip to main content

Table 3 Factors associated with perceived pressure (pressured by patient to grant the request)

From: Physicians’ experiences with euthanasia: a cross-sectional survey amongst a random sample of Dutch physicians to explore their concerns, feelings and pressure

 

Refused cases

Univariable logistic regression

Granted cases

Univariable logistic regression

No pressure

Pressure

No pressure

Pressure

N = 96

N = 146

OR (95% CI)

N = 211

N = 32

OR (95% CI)

Patient characteristics

 Gender

  Male

43 (46.2%)

55 (37.9%)

Reference

116 (55.0%)

12 (37.5%)

Reference

  Female

50 (53.8%)

90 (62.1%)

1.41 (0.83–2.39)

95 (45.0%)

20 (62.5%)

2.04 (0.95–4.38)

 Age (year)

  ≤ 64

45 (46.9%)

48 (32.9%)

Reference

53 (25.2%)

11 (34.4%)

Reference

  65–79

26 (27.1%)

44 (30.1%)

1.59 (0.84–2.99)

97 (46.2%)

11 (34.4%)

0.55 (0.22–1.34)

  ≥ 80

25 (26.0%)

54 (37.0%)

2.03 (1.08–3.78)

60 (28.6%)

10 (31.3%)

0.80 (0.32–2.04)

 Cancer

  No

69 (72.6%)

126 (87.5%)

 

91 (43.3%)

19 (59.4%)

Reference

  Yes

26 (27.4%)

18 (12.5%)

0.38 (0.19–0.74)

119 (56.7%)

13 (40.6%)

0.52 (0.25–1.12)

 Presence psychiatric disorder

  No

61 (63.5%)

79 (54.1%)

Reference

197 (93.4%)

30 (93.8%)

Reference

  Yes

35 (36.5%)

67 (45.9%)

1.48 (0.87–2.51)

14 (6.6%)

2 (6.3%)

0.94 (0.20–4.34)

 Life-expectancy

  < 1 month

15 (15.8%)

7 (4.8%)

Reference

46 (21.8%)

4 (12.5%)

Reference

  1–5 months

10 (10.5%)

12 (8.2%)

2.57 (0.75–8.78)

91 (43.1%)

10 (31.3%)

1.26 (0.38–4.25)

  ≥ 6 months

70 (73.7%)

127 (87.0%)

3.89 (1.51–9.99)

74 (35.1%)

18 (56.3%)

2.80 (0.89–8.78)

 Communication possible

  Less than good (reasonable-barely)

42 (43.8%)

64 (44.1%)

Reference

16 (7.6%)

3 (9.4%)

Reference

  Good

54 (56.3%)

81 (55.9%)

0.98 (0.59–1.66)

195 (92.4%)

29 (90.6%)

0.79 (0.22–2.89)

 Opinions of relatives regarding the request

  Not supporting (neutral, divided, opposing)

54 (56.8%)

94 (64.8%)

Reference

10 (4.7%)

4 (12.5%)

Reference

  Supporting

41 (43.2%)

51 (35.2%)

0.72 (0.42–1.21)

201 (95.3%)

28 (87.5%)

0.35 (0.10–1.19)

Physician characteristics

 Specialty

  General practitioner

42 (43.8%)

71 (49.3%)

Reference

151 (73.7%)

21 (67.7%)

Reference

  Elderly care physician

18 (18.8%)

25 (17.4%)

0.82 (0.40–1.68)

28 (13.7%)

5 (16.1%)

1.28 (0.45–3.69)

  Medical specialist

12 (12.5%)

7 (4.9%)

0.35 (0.13–0.95)

18 (8.8%)

3 (9.7%)

1.20 (0.33–4.42)

  Psychiatrist

24 (25.0%)

41 (28.5%)

1.01 (0.54–1.90)

8 (3.9%)

2 (6.5%)

1.80 (0.36–9.04)

 Gender

  Male

40 (42.6%)

64 (44.1%)

Reference

104 (49.8%)

19 (59.4%)

Reference

  Female

54 (57.4%)

81 (55.9%)

0.94 (0.56–1.58)

105 (50.2%)

13 (40.6%)

0.68 (0.32–1.44)

 Age (year)

  ≤ 39

20 (20.8%)

16 (11.0%)

Reference

49 (23.2%)

5 (15.6%)

Reference

  40–54

54 (56.3%)

79 (54.1%)

1.83 (0.87–3.84)

83 (39.3%)

19 (59.4%)

2.24 (0.79–6.39)

  ≥55

22 (22.9%)

51 (34.9%)

2.90 (1.27–6.62)

79 (37.4%)

8 (25.0%)

0.99 (0.31–3.21)

 Number of explicit request received in the last year

  0

40 (41.6%)

54 (37.0%)

0.54 (0.26–1.14)

52 (24.6%)

10 (31.3%)

1.41 (0.48–4.19)

  1

23 (24.0%)

34 (23.3%)

0.59 (0.26–1.34)

68 (32.2%)

9 (28.1%)

0.97 (0.32–2.92)

  2

19 (19.8%)

23 (15.7%)

0.48 (0.20–1.15)

47 (22.3%)

7 (21.9%)

1.09 (0.34–3.50)

   ≥ 3

14 (14.6%)

35 (24.0%)

Reference

44 (20.9%)

6 (18.8%)

Reference

  1. Missings: Refused cases missings varied between 6 and 10 (2.4–4.0%), Granted cases missings varied between 2 and 9 (0.8–3.7%). Bold indicates statistical significance (p < 0.05)