Desire for hastened death among patients with advanced AIDS.

Full 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.

Author information

Author/s: Rosenfeld, Barry (B); Breitbart, William (W); Gibson, Christopher (C); Kramer, Michael (M); Tomarken, Alexis (A); Nelson, Christian (C); Pessin, Hayley (H); Esch, Julie (J); Galietta, Michele (M); Garcia, Nerina (N); Brechtl, John (J); Schuster, Michael (M);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, Fordham University, Bronx, NY 10458, USA. rosenfeld(-atsign-)fordham.edu

Grants: R01-MH 57629 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Psychosomatics (Psychosomatics), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: -2006 Nov-Dec; vol 47 (issue 6) : pp 504-12

Dates: Created 2006/11/22; Completed 2007/03/22; Revised 2007/12/03;

PMID: 17116952, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

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