"I wouldn't want to become a nuisance under any circumstances"--a qualitative study of the reasons some healthy older individuals support medical practices that hasten death.

AIM: To explore the reasons some healthy older New Zealanders support medical practices that hasten death. METHODS: Recruitment was from the Voluntary Euthanasia Society of New Zealand (VESNZ), an organisation that supports legal medical assistance in dying. All participants were members of VESNZ. 106 individuals returned signed consent forms. All interviews took place in the participant's home. After 11 interviews, saturation of information was reached and interviewing was stopped. RESULTS: An important finding of this study indicates that healthy, older individuals who support medical practices that hasten death have serious concerns about their (perceived) future incapacities and dependency on others, as well as their fears around becoming a burden. The study also found that fear of future pain was not a dominant reason to support medical assistance to die. CONCLUSION: Our study provides confirmation that the fear of being a burden on others is not only felt by those facing their imminent mortality, but also by older individuals who are currently healthy and living independently in the community. We also conclude that for some older people their prior experiences with health care and dying may be a strong factor in influencing and supporting medical practices that hasten death at the end of life. We believe it is crucial to understand the reasons why people support medical practices that hasten death well in advance of such practices ever becoming legally available.