UK Study Finds "Religious" Doctors' Care for Terminally Ill to be More Life Affirming

Aimee Herd : Sep 2, 2010
Marcia Cheng – AP, NewsOn6.com

"…for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks." -Jesus Christ

A recent study by Britain's National Council for Palliative Care, published online Thursday in the Journal of Medical Ethics, revealed that doctors who are self-described as either atheist, agnostic or just "non-religious," are "twice as likely to make decisions that could end the lives of their terminally ill patients."

The random mail survey of 3,700 doctors across Britain, included respondents who were neurologists, family doctors, palliative care doctors and others; 2,923 responded.

Dr. Clive Seale, a professor at Barts and the London School of Medicine, conducted the survey, which found that those who said they were "extremely" or "very non-religious" were two times as likely to prescribe "continuous deep sedation," which could hasten their patient's death. (Photo: Dr. Clive Seale/Institute of Health Sciences Education)

In contrast, those doctors who described themselves as "religious" were much less likely to have even discussed "end of life" decisions with their patients, according to the AP report.