Attitudes and behaviour of doctors concerning the end of life of their patients.

Today, medical practice is increasingly able to assist in curing the sick,
in making life bearable for them and in extending life for a shorter or
longer period of time. The moment at which a sick person dies is often
partly determined by decisions whether to stop or to continue treatment.
Obviously, this does not hold for all deaths. People still die from
accidents or from acute fatal disease such as acute myocardial infarction.
In all nonsudden deaths, however, patient and physician are involved in
decision making about a shorter or longer disease process. In other words :
patient and physician are involved in 'end-of-life decisions'. This study
will explore the attitudes and behaviour of doctors concercing end-of-life
decisions. Are included in the study : life-terminating acts without the
patient's explicit request, non-treatment decisions with probable life-
shortening effect, euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide.