More than one in three doctors said they had, at some time, given a patient drugs in response to the request of hastening death, an Australian survey has shown.  The Victorian study of over 900 doctors also revealed three quarters of respondents had withheld life-sustaining treatment at a patient’s request.

Despite this, just over half, 53 per cent, said they wanted to see a change in the law, to allow for voluntary euthanasia, industry website 6minutes.com.au reported.

Many doctors said they thought the law was too blunt to assist in medical decision-making and others said they thought that legalising euthanasia would create an expectation that doctors would routinely perform the procedure.

The authors of the study, published in the Journal of Medical Ethics, said their findings suggested attitudes towards euthanasia had not changed much since a similar survey was conducted 17 years ago. http://www.livenews.com.au/Articles/2007/11/30/1_in_3_doctors_admit_theyve_helped_patients_die