The American Medical Association has described physician-assisted suicide as a serious risk to society and \u201cfundamentally incompatible with a physician\u2019s role as healer.\u201d But Millions of Americans disagree, according to a 2016 study by LifeWay Research.<\/p>\n
Two-thirds say it is morally acceptable for terminally ill patients to ask their doctors for help in ending their lives. A similar number says doctors should be able to help terminally ill patients die.<\/p>\n
Americans want more say over how they die, noted Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research. That\u2019s especially true if facing a painful, terminal illness, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany believe that asking for help in dying is a moral option,\u201d he said. \u201cThey don\u2019t believe that suffering until they die of natural causes is the only way out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Widespread support<\/p>\n
Physician-assisted suicide first became legal in the U.S. in 1997 under Oregon\u2019s \u201cDeath with Dignity\u201d law. Since then, 991 patients in Oregon have ended their lives using medications prescribed by a doctor under the law, according to that state\u2019s reports.<\/p>\n
Today six states allow physician-assisted suicide. The latest is Colorado, where voters approved Proposition 106, which allows a terminally ill patient to request a fatal dose of sleeping medication, by a two-to-one margin in November. Washington, California, Vermont, and Montana also allow physician-assisted suicide.<\/p>\n
The city council in the District of Columbia recently approved a measure allowing the practice — a decision that must be reviewed by Congress.<\/p>\n
In LifeWay Research\u2019s survey, 67 percent of Americans agree with the statement, \u201cWhen a person is facing a painful terminal disease, it is morally acceptable to ask for a physician\u2019s aid in taking his or her own life.\u201d Thirty-three percent disagree.<\/p>\n
While there are differences among demographic groups, most still agree.<\/p>\n
For example, Americans age 18 to 24 (77 percent) and those 35 to 44 (63 percent) and 55 to 64 (64 percent) agree. So do white Americans (71 percent) and Hispanic Americans (69 percent). Those with some college education (71 percent) or with graduate degrees (73 percent) and those with high school diplomas or less (61 percent) also agree.<\/p>\n
Among faith groups, more than half of all Christians (59 percent), Catholics (70 percent), Protestants (53 percent), Nones (84 percent) and those of other religions (70 percent) agree. Most of those who attend religious services less than once a month (76 percent) also agree.<\/p>\n
A few demographic groups are skeptical. Fewer than half of those with evangelical beliefs (38 percent), African-Americans (47 percent) or those who attend religious services at least once a month (49 percent) say physician-assisted suicide is morally acceptable.<\/p>\n
\u201cTraditional Christian teaching says God holds the keys to life and death,\u201d McConnell said. \u201cThose who go to church or hold more traditional beliefs are less likely to see assisted suicide as morally acceptable. Still, a surprising number do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Few want restrictions on doctors<\/p>\n
Researchers also found widespread support for removing restrictions on physician-assisted suicide.<\/p>\n
Many Americans (69 percent) say physicians should be allowed to assist terminally ill patients in ending their lives. Thirty-one percent disagree.<\/p>\n
Those in the Northeast (73 percent), Catholics (70 percent), white Americans (73 percent), those with graduate degrees (77 percent), Nones (88 percent) and those who skip religious services (78 percent) are among those most likely to agree.<\/p>\n
More than half of Southerners (64 percent), African-Americans (53 percent), Protestants (53 percent), those with a high school diploma or less (64 percent) and those who attend services at least once a month (52 percent) also agree.<\/p>\n
Again, those with evangelical beliefs (42 percent) do not.<\/p>\n
LifeWay Research\u2019s findings echo those of other studies. A 2015 Gallup survey found 68 percent of Americans said physician-assisted suicide should be legal, up from 53 percent in 2013. Gallup also found that support for legalized physician-assisted suicide has wavered over the past 20 years. It previously peaked at 68 percent in 2001 before declining to 53 percent.<\/p>\n
The debate over physician-assisted suicide is unlikely to go away, said McConnell, and it raises troublesome questions.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuch requests are asking doctors to betray one of their most sacred oaths — which admits, \u2018It may also be within my power to take a life,\u2019 but concludes, \u2018I must not play at God,\u2019\u201d McConnell said. \u201cTo ask physicians to turn from their task of healing is not a decision to make lightly.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The American Medical Association has described physician-assisted suicide as a serious risk to society and \u201cfundamentally incompatible with a physician\u2019s role as healer.\u201d But Millions of Americans disagree, according to a 2016 study by LifeWay Research. Two-thirds say it is morally acceptable for terminally ill patients to ask their doctors for help in ending their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[312,2810,1298,460,2811],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6985"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6985\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}