Table 3.
Perception of the withdrawal of futile treatment as euthanasia and associations with these notions
| Strength of religious faith | p | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low | Average | High | ||
| Is the withholding of futile medical care equivalent to euthanasia? | ||||
| Health-care professionals | ||||
| Yes | 91.8% | 94.7% | 90.8% | p = 0.4011 |
| No | 8.2% | 5.3% | 9.2% | |
| Non-health-care professionals | ||||
| Yes | 87.5% | 76.9% | 75.5% | p = 0.3842 |
| No | 12.5% | 23.1% | 24.5% | |
| Is the withdrawal of futile medical care equivalent to the termination of treatment? | ||||
| Health-care professionals | ||||
| Yes | 4.1% | 6.2% | 11.7% | p = 0.1922 |
| No | 94.8% | 90.7% | 86.4% | |
| I don’t know | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1.9% | |
| Non-health-care professionals | ||||
| Yes | 12.1% | 23.1% | 14.5% | p = 0.1452 |
| No | 69.7% | 71.2% | 80.0% | |
| I don’t know | 18.2% | 5.8% | 5.5% | |
| Associations with the notion of euthanasia | ||||
| Health-care professionals | ||||
| Relief from suffering | 76.3% | 45.1% | 29.1% | 0.0000*** |
| Protection of the patient’s dignity | 44.3% | 24.4% | 4.9% | 0.0000*** |
| Providing a dignified death | 50.5% | 24.9% | 6.8% | 0.0000*** |
| Expensive treatment | 9.3% | 6.7% | 5.8% | 0.6105 |
| Infliction of death | 44.3% | 58.5% | 81.6% | 0.0000*** |
| Non-health-care professionals | ||||
| Relief from suffering | 54.5% | 19.2% | 14.5% | 0.0001*** |
| Protection of the patient's dignity | 33.5% | 7.7% | 1.8% | 0.0000*** |
| Providing a dignified death | 33.3% | 11.5% | 1.8% | 0.0001*** |
| Expensive treatment | 12.1% | 19.2% | 20.0% | 0.6129 |
| Infliction of death | 48.5% | 88.5% | 96.4% | 0.0000*** |
| Association with the notion of withdrawal of futile care | ||||
| Health-care professionals | ||||
| Relief from suffering | 78.4% | 63.7% | 55.3% | 0.0025** |
| Protection of the patient’s dignity | 78.4% | 64.8% | 62.1% | 0.0273* |
| Providing a dignified death | 77.3% | 70.5% | 68.0% | 0.3094 |
| Expensive treatment | 25.8% | 22.8% | 10.7% | 0.0149* |
| Infliction of death | 0.0% | 2.1% | 7.8% | 0.0033** |
| Non-health-care professionals | ||||
| Relief from suffering | 57.6% | 40.4% | 25.5% | 0.0106* |
| Protection of the patient’s dignity | 48.5% | 44.2% | 54.5% | 0.5630 |
| Providing a dignified death | 51.1% | 36.5% | 45.5% | 0.5630 |
| Expensive treatment | 15.2% | 23.1% | 10.9% | 0.2307 |
| Infliction of death | 9.1% | 26.9% | 25.5% | 0.1165 |
Chi-square independence test was used;
*–p < 0.05 (statistically significant)
**–p < 0.01 (highly statistically significant)
***–p < 0.001 (very highly statistically significant)