Table 1

Participant's Demographic Information

Attributes
Physician A
Ethicist B
Physician C
Ethicist D

Nationality
United States
United States
Japan
Japan
Specialization
medicine/psychiatry
ethics
medicine/internal medicine
ethics
Professional degree
M.D.
PhD in philosophy
M.D.
MA in philosophy
Affiliation
university
university/hospital
general hospital
university
Number of available hospital beds
university hospital 500–600 beds
polyclinic hospital 700 beds
general hospital 110 beds
university hospital, mid-size general hospital 200–300 beds
Years of experience
about 20
about 11
about 1
about 4
Total number of cases experienced
more than 500
about 250
about five
about 400

Nagao et al. BMC Medical Ethics 2008 9:2   doi:10.1186/1472-6939-9-2