Roughly 90% of Maltese general practitioners are opposed to euthanasia, whilst 14% of them have received request for euthanasia from ailing patients, according to Dr.Jurgen Abela.

Dr. Abela, who is a member of the medical staff at Hospice Malta said this during a presentation put forward to a joint parliamentary committee meeting for Social Affairs, Health and Family Affairs regarding Euhtanasia.

In the committee meeting Dr Abela referred to a study he conducted in accordance with the University of Malta's department of family medicine which was published in the Malta Medical Journal.

Roughly 90% of Maltese general practitioners are opposed to euthanasia, whilst 14% of them have received request for euthanasia from ailing patients.

It was also revealed that 89.8% of respondents considered their respective religion or philosophy of life as being important or "very important" in guiding their end-of-life decisions, with 82.3% of family doctors identifying as Roman Catholics.

The 160 GPs that were interviewed said that they would consider intensifying painkillers and analgesia in palliative care in order to alleviate the pain that comes with dying.

Palliative care refers to care for people who have incurable diseases, and as Dr Abela stressed is completely different to euthanasia.

Dr Abela also told the committee, chaired by Labour Whip and GP Dr Godfrey Farrugia, that there is a severe lack of communication and  information on euthanasia and advanced care planning since a number of doctors are afraid to talk about the subject.

Responding to questions as to why people request euthanasia, Dr Abela said that it was a cry for help from people who suffer from incurable diseases who live a very poor quality of life due to their conditions.