GMS journal for medical education
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Case Reports
Physician-assisted suicide, euthanasia and palliative sedation: attitudes and knowledge of medical students.
In November 2015, the German Federal Parliament voted on a new legal regulation regarding assisted suicide. It was decided to amend the German Criminal Code so that any "regular, repetitive offer" (even on a non-profit basis) of assistance in suicide would now be considered a punishable offense. On July 2, 2015, a date which happened to be accompanied by great media interest in that it was the day that the first draft of said law was presented to Parliament, we surveyed 4th year medical students at the Technical University Munich on "physician-assisted suicide," "euthanasia" and "palliative sedation," based on a fictitious case vignette study. ⋯ The majority of the students surveyed wrongly assumed that physician-assisted suicide is a punishable offense in Germany. However, a narrow majority considered physician-assisted suicide ethically acceptable in the case study presented. Compared to euthanasia, more than twice as many participants considered physician-assisted suicide acceptable. There was no significant difference between personal attitudes towards palliative sedation, physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia in light of physical or emotional suffering. Educational programs in this field should be expanded both qualitatively and quantitatively, especially considering the relevance of the subject matter, the deficits within the knowledge of legal norms and the now even higher complexity of the legal situation due to the new law from December 2015.
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The majority of medical graduates in Germany complete a doctorate, even though a doctoral degree is not necessary for the practice of medicine. So far, little is known about doctoral candidates' view on the individual benefit a doctoral thesis has for them. Consequently, this is the subject of the present investigation. ⋯ Although for the majority of physicians research interest is not the primary motivation for completing a doctorate, they might nevertheless achieve some academic competencies. For graduates pursuing an academic career the benefit of completing a medical thesis is more obvious.
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Since 2012, skills labs have been set up to teach practical skills at veterinary training facilities in the German-speaking world. In addition to didactic considerations, ethical points of view in terms of animal protection form the basis of the increasing significance of skills labs in veterinary medicine. Not least because of the quality standards in veterinary medicine training which apply across Europe, the link between veterinary medicine training facilities is particularly significant when it comes to the setting up and development of skills labs. The Committee on Veterinary Medicine is therefore not only interested in exchange and cooperation within veterinary medicine, but also sees an opportunity for mutual gain in the link with the Society for Medical Education Committee "Practical Skills".