University of Edinburgh Study on Cancer Patients and Desire to Hasten Death Debunked
“Research from the University of Edinburgh Up to 75% of patients with advanced cancer reported feelings of burden, which significantly influenced their desire to hasten death.”
Summary
No current research from the University of Edinburgh reports that up to 75 % of advanced‑cancer patients experience a sense of burden that significantly influences a wish to hasten death. The available studies discuss treatment burden and desire for hastened death, but none provide that specific percentage or attribution, so the claim is unsubstantiated.
Sources 59 searched
- Treatment burden in individuals living with and beyond cancer: A systematic review of qualitative literature - PMC
Individuals with cancer are being given increasing responsibility for the self-management of their health and illness. In other chronic diseases, individuals who experience treatment burden are at risk of poorer health outcomes. Less is known about ...
- Self-perceived burden predicts lower quality of life in advanced cancer patients: the mediating role of existential distress and anxiety - PMC
This study provides new evidence for explaining how SPB affects the QoL of advanced cancer patients. Our study has found that SPB was negatively associated with QoL, and the direct effects of SPB on QoL account for 26.75% of the variance in QoL among advanced cancer patients.
- Symptom Control Trials in Patients With Advanced Cancer: A Qualitative Study - PMC
When participants reflected on taking part in these symptom control trials, it was often within the context of their pain. A participant who had a good pain response was also typically positive about the trial. For some participants, despite poor pain reduction and subsequent underlying feelings of disappointment, their overall experience of the trial was still positive.
- Health-related quality of life in patients with advanced cancer who express a wish to hasten death: A comparative study - PubMed
Results: Patients with a wish to hasten death had worse emotional functioning (p < 0.001), greater perceived loss of dignity (p < 0.001) and lower self-efficacy (p = 0.001). There was no difference in most physical symptoms.
- The desire for hastened death in individuals with advanced cancer: a longitudinal qualitative study - PubMed
Research is needed on the desire for hastened death (DHD) in the context of advanced cancer in order to address the clinical, ethical, and legal questions that it raises. The goal of the present qualitative study was to understand the experience ...
- Association between clinician factors and a patient's wish to hasten death: terminally ill cancer patients and their doctors - PubMed
This study investigated the clinical factors associated with a wish to hasten death among patients with advanced cancer receiving palliative care, with a focus on the role of clinician-related factors. Patients were grouped into high- and low-scoring groups on the basis of their wish to hasten death …
- The global, regional, and national burden of cancer, 1990–2023, with forecasts to 2050: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023 - The Lancet
Cancer is a major contributor to global disease burden, with increasing numbers of cases and deaths forecasted up to 2050 and a disproportionate growth in burden in countries with scarce resources.
This fact check is free and donation-based. $1 powers ~30 fact-checks.
