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About six in 10 SAR doctors support euthanasia and would comply with a MCQ #1 supportive resuscitation crime ethical treatment request injection patient terminally grey prescribing public priority resuscitate 's MCQ #2 supportive resuscitation crime ethical treatment request injection patient terminally grey prescribing public priority resuscitate to turn off a life-support system, a ground-breaking survey found. In the first survey on the subject, researchers found general acceptance of euthanasia among doctors and the MCQ #3 supportive resuscitation crime ethical treatment request injection patient terminally grey prescribing public priority resuscitate .

Fifty-nine per cent of 1,187 doctors surveyed - more than one-fifth of all doctors in the SAR - said mercy killing should not be against the law. Only 20 per cent said it should be unlawful. In addition, 73 per cent told the City University researchers that MCQ #4 supportive resuscitation crime ethical treatment request injection patient terminally grey prescribing public priority resuscitate ill patients had the right to decide to die and 61 per cent said euthanasia should be acceptable in today's society. A total of 60 per cent said they would agree to a MCQ #5 supportive resuscitation crime ethical treatment request injection patient terminally grey prescribing public priority resuscitate ill MCQ #6 supportive resuscitation crime ethical treatment request injection patient terminally grey prescribing public priority resuscitate 's MCQ #7 supportive resuscitation crime ethical treatment request injection patient terminally grey prescribing public priority resuscitate to withdraw life-sustaining MCQ #8 supportive resuscitation crime ethical treatment request injection patient terminally grey prescribing public priority resuscitate .

Active methods to end a MCQ #9 supportive resuscitation crime ethical treatment request injection patient terminally grey prescribing public priority resuscitate 's life - such as lethal MCQ #10 supportive resuscitation crime ethical treatment request injection patient terminally grey prescribing public priority resuscitate - drew far less support. Nevertheless, 28 per cent of doctors said they would support such means. In terms of non-voluntary euthanasia - for patients in a coma - 39 per cent of doctors said they would agree to a MCQ #11 supportive resuscitation crime ethical treatment request injection patient terminally grey prescribing public priority resuscitate by a MCQ #12 supportive resuscitation crime ethical treatment request injection patient terminally grey prescribing public priority resuscitate 's family to let the person die.

The survey dovetailed its findings by asking 618 households the same questions and found the MCQ #13 supportive resuscitation crime ethical treatment request injection patient terminally grey prescribing public priority resuscitate was even more MCQ #14 supportive resuscitation crime ethical treatment request injection patient terminally grey prescribing public priority resuscitate of mercy killing. Sixty-six per cent said euthanasia should not be unlawful. Active euthanasia drew support from 60 per cent, while 48 per cent backed non-voluntary euthanasia.

Euthanasia is regarded by most countries as a serious MCQ #15 supportive resuscitation crime ethical treatment request injection patient terminally grey prescribing public priority resuscitate . The Netherlands is one exception. In Hong Kong, turning off life-support machines or MCQ #16 supportive resuscitation crime ethical treatment request injection patient terminally grey prescribing public priority resuscitate life-ending drugs is considered murder. However, the Hospital Authority has a "do not MCQ #17 supportive resuscitation crime ethical treatment request injection patient terminally grey prescribing public priority resuscitate " guideline which allows doctors not to perform "futile" MCQ #18 supportive resuscitation crime ethical treatment request injection patient terminally grey prescribing public priority resuscitate on a dying MCQ #19 supportive resuscitation crime ethical treatment request injection patient terminally grey prescribing public priority resuscitate with their prior consent.

The survey shows more support for euthanasia exists in Hong Kong than in many Western countries. A study in Australia in 1996 showed nine out of 10 doctors were strongly opposed, while another in Britain in 1997 found only one-third of doctors were MCQ #20 supportive resuscitation crime ethical treatment request injection patient terminally grey prescribing public priority resuscitate .

The study, conducted by Fok Shiu-yeu and Professor Alice Chong Ming-lin of City University and Dr Tang Kwok-cho of the University of Sydney, was completed in June. It was funded by the Hospital Authority's Health Services Research Committee. Ms Fok, a senior social science lecturer, said people's attitudes were more open than expected. She said the Government should initiate a debate on the issue since MCQ #21 supportive resuscitation crime ethical treatment request injection patient terminally grey prescribing public priority resuscitate understanding was limited. "The Government and the community should take up this issue seriously and set up a forum for vigorous deliberation on the legal, medical and MCQ #22 supportive resuscitation crime ethical treatment request injection patient terminally grey prescribing public priority resuscitate implications of euthanasia," she said.

Ho Hei-wah, spokesman of the Patients' Rights Association, said there should be clearer rules on euthanasia. "There are many MCQ #23 supportive resuscitation crime ethical treatment request injection patient terminally grey prescribing public priority resuscitate areas between different forms of euthanasia. We need some better definitions on the subject," he said.

But Professor Leung Ping-chung, chairman of the Medical Council's ethics committee, strongly opposes the idea of active euthanasia. He said existing guidelines on treating MCQ #24 supportive resuscitation crime ethical treatment request injection patient terminally grey prescribing public priority resuscitate ill patients were adequate and euthanasia was not a MCQ #25 supportive resuscitation crime ethical treatment request injection patient terminally grey prescribing public priority resuscitate among the medical profession.

A Health and Welfare Bureau spokeswoman said it would study the survey in detail. "The Government will need to take into account the views of the community as a whole, including specific MCQ #26 supportive resuscitation crime ethical treatment request injection patient terminally grey prescribing public priority resuscitate groups and the legal and medical profession."