Euthanasia remains a controversial topic in Canada. One of the major arguments in favour of euthanasia is that it supports the patient’s autonomy and expressed wishes . Numerous studies confirm that end-of-life patients place a high level of importance on the respect of their autonomy and wish to decide “when” and “how” they die. Unfortunately, these studies do not provide any information about whether patients’ wishes have an impact on health professionals’ intention to practise euthanasia.

Most studies either assess nurses’ or physicians’ attitude towards euthanasia. To our knowledge, only one study compared whether nurses and physicians hold different beliefs concerning euthanasia . The results of this latter study indicated that nurses’ main reason for providing euthanasia was the pain and depression of the patient; while for physicians, it was the pain and depression of the patient and insufficient support. Reviews on the attitude of physicians and nurses toward euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide also either report results on nurses or on physicians . Only one review was concerned with physicians’ and nurses’ attitude toward euthanasia, but the results were reported and discussed separately.