Table 3.
Shows comments to main statement grouped by respondent group and attitude (Number of comments in each comment category in brackets)
| All physicians: | General public: | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Agree with the main statement | Disagree with the main statement | Agree with the main statement | Disagree with the main statement |
| Reject requirement (18) “There are situations where demanding is impossible”; “Consider special cases” | Reject requirement (22) “Unethical to deny”; “Illegal to deny” | Reference to risksa (10) “Unnecessary health risks”; “Wound healing and infections” | Reject requirement (7) “Right to recommend, wrong to require”; “It is not illegal to smoke” |
| Reference to risksa (15) “Medically indicated”; “Smoking affects the outcome and therefore should be avoided” | Delimitation issues (6) “Who can determine where the line is to be drawn?”; “How about overweight patients?” | Reject requirement (7) “Too important to be made conditional”; “The physician needs to be a diplomat” | Reference to risksa (1) “If the surgeon knows the patient will be much worse off” |
| Methodological issues (10) “This kind of surgery is not affected by smoking”; “8 weeks is too short” | Methodological issues (3) “Many other factors contribute to peri-operative risk” | Paternalistic reasons (8) “The patient should stop smoking forever”; “It is in the patient’s own best interest”. | Delimitation issues (1) “Who’ll decide what other life style related issues that should matter?” |
| Reference to societal costs (9) “Less costly to society”; “Complications are an economic burden to public health care” | Reference to risksa (1) “Negligible risk” | Obedience (3) “The surgeon knows best”; “Patients should obey doctors’ orders” | Methodological issues (1) “How can the surgeon know the patient stopped smoking?” |
| Miscellaneous (9) “We have this policy”; “No reason not to” | Reference to societal costs (5) “Expensive not to take preventive measures”; “Expenses to the taxpayer” | ||
| Reference to virtue (2) “You should do what’s best”; “All should chip in” | |||
| Miscellaneous (10) “Seems reasonable”; “Should be done with all surgery” | |||
aSome of the comments that make reference to risk seem to be focussing on surgery-related risk (“risk for complications”), whereas others refer to the general health risks associated with smoking