Table 3 Life stance and hypothetical decision-making in different circumstances

Decision	Belgium		Denmark		Netherlands		Sweden		Switzerland		Australia
Decision	Case 1	Case 2	Case 1	Case 2	Case 1	Case 2	Case 1	Case 2	Case 1	Case 2	Case 1	Case 2
APS at patient’s request†
Roman Catholic	95	98	*	*	93	97	78	88	82	89	94	96
Protestant	*	*	87	98	93	99	88	93	82	89	95	98
Non-religious (specific philosophy)	98	99	95	100	95	100	84	98	89	96	97	97
Non-religious (no specific philosophy)	97	98	87	100	93	98	88	95	89	94	97	98
p Value	0.134	0.670	0.313	0.055	0.916	0.218	0.136	0.058	0.017	0.063	0.153	0.130
APS on own initiative
Roman Catholic	83	79	*	*	63	45	68	71	74	69	86	71
Protestant	*	*	82	78	70	49	80	76	69	64	80	65
Non-religious (specific philosophy)	83	83	87	81	67	45	84	78	74	70	92	79
Non-religious (no specific philosophy)	81	76	78	77	67	47	78	74	79	72	87	65
p Value	0.692	0.188	0.215	0.733	0.342	0.772	0.092	0.587	0.019	0.094	0.013	0.121
Terminal sedation at patient’s request†
Roman Catholic	81	78	*	*	74	62	68	69	66	74	59	49
Protestant	*	*	52	47	71	70	50	50	70	73	67	55
Non-religious (specific philosophy)	87	85	49	54	75	80	62	61	78	78	70	54
Non-religious (no specific philosophy)	84	80	56	52	71	66	56	55	76	76	72	66
p Value	0.121	0.122	0.297	0.159	0.823	0.048	0.010	0.013	0.037	0.651	0.002	<0.001
Terminal sedation on own initiative
Roman Catholic	60	38	*	*	38	10	49	33	54	33	46	22
Protestant	*	*	41	21	37	8	34	21	48	31	51	28
Non-religious (specific philosophy)	63	43	50	31	49	16	36	14	43	25	50	29
Non-religious (no specific philosophy)	57	32	42	26	36	11	40	21	56	35	53	26
p Value	0.295	0.023	0.566	0.097	0.485	0.470	0.045	0.086	0.072	0.533	0.324	0.444
PAD at patient’s request†
Roman Catholic	46	39	*	*	45	47	6	8	18	14	12	11
Protestant	*	*	20	19	42	49	5	3	24	23	22	18
Non-religious (specific philosophy)	81	79	38	35	65	64	7	4	29	43	30	27
Non-religious (no specific philosophy)	65	65	25	26	50	61	9	7	40	33	29	29
p Value	<0.001	<0.001	0.012	0.004	0.019	<0.001	0.111	0.011	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001
PAD on own initiative
Roman Catholic	22	9	*	*	13	5	5	3	10	7	8	4
Protestant	*	*	17	9	13	3	5	2	13	9	17	10
Non-religious (specific philosophy)	41	26	35	22	15	5	4	2	7	4	24	14
Non-religious (no specific philosophy)	33	15	21	14	13	4	6	2	18	11	19	10
p Value	<0.001	<0.001	0.014	0.002	0.966	0.622	0.872	0.819	0.008	0.285	<0.001	0.019

Values are the percentages probably or certainly agreeing to make a given end-of-life decision; p values are from Pearson χ² test .
Case 1: the patient is drowsy or subcomatose and communication is not possible. You estimate the patient’s life expectancy (without chemotherapy) to be no more than 2 weeks. Pain can be adequately controlled, but the patient is extremely tired, short of breath and bedridden.
Case 2: the patient is clear headed and can still communicate. You estimate the patient’s life expectancy (without chemotherapy) to be no more than 2 weeks. The patient had pain that is difficult to control despite the use of high doses of analgesics.
*Only life-stance groups with more than 2% of respondents in national sample were retained in the analyses
†For case 1 (communication not possible) “at patient request” was defined as a request stated in an advanced directive.
APS, alleviation of pain/symptoms using drugs with a possible life-shortening effect; PAD, physician-assisted death.