Changes in opinions on intentional or unintentional hastening of death from graduation to 6 years as a physician—a follow-up cohort study

Physicians’ decision-making in end-of-life care involves many challenging ethical, legal, medical and psychological aspects including the possibility of hastening death. Hastened death is a complex ethical issue as it may cover both intentional assistance in death through euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide and the possibility of unintentional hastening of death through intensive management of suffering (the doctrine of double effect). The research question in our study was: Do views on unintentional or intentional hastening of death, and the factors behind them, change during the first 6 years as a physician?