Desire for hastened death among patients with advanced AIDS
Document Type
Article
Disciplines
Psychology | Social and Behavioral Sciences
Abstract
The recent debate over legalization of physician-assisted suicide has fueled interest in understanding factors that lead medically ill patients to seek a hastened death. The authors investigated the prevalence and predictors of desire for hastened death in 372 patients with advanced AIDS who were newly admitted to a palliative-care facility. Clinician-rated and self-report measures of desire for hastened death, depression, hopelessness, spiritual well-being, social support, pain, and physical symptom burden were administered to assess the factors that correspond to a high desire for death. The prevalence ranged from 4.6% to 8.3%, significantly lower than in previous studies of patients with advanced or terminal cancer. Multivariate models revealed significant and unique effects for both hopelessness and depression, with these variables accounting for a large proportion of the variance in each model. Authors discuss the implications of these findings for palliative care practice and the assisted-suicide debate.
Article Number
1247
Publication Date
2006
Recommended Citation
Rosenfeld, B., Breitbart, W., Gibson, C., Kramer, M., Tomarken, A., Nelson, C., Pessin, H., Esch, J., Galietta, M., Garcia, N., Brechtl, J., & Schuster, M. (2006). Desire for hastened death among patients with advanced AIDS. Psychosomatics, 47, 504-512.
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