Many Americans Support the Right to Die

By None, Angus Reid Global Scan, Jan. 30, 2006

Opinion Poll

(Angus Reid Global Scan) – Many adults in the United States believe a form of euthanasia should be permitted under specific circumstances, according to a poll by the New York Times and CBS News. 56 per cent of respondents think a doctor should be allowed to assist a person in taking his or her own life.

The poll question focuses on patients who have "a disease that will ultimately destroy their mind or body" and want "to take their own life."

In the United States, the state of Oregon legalized assisted suicide in 1994. In July 2005, a bill that would have allowed adults with less than six months to live the right to obtain lethal drugs from a doctor and take them themselves to end their own lives was defeated in the California State Legislature.

Doctor-assisted suicide became a controversial topic in the U.S. in the 1990s, after Jack Kevorkian—a doctor who claims to have helped more than 100 people end their lives—became a fervent supporter for the right to die.

In March 1999, Kevorkian was found guilty of second-degree murder and delivery of a controlled substance for administering lethal drugs to Thomas Youk, who suffered from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Kevorkian will be eligible for parole in 2007.

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Oregon's Death With Dignity Act in a 6-3 decision. The justices did not actually deal with the constitutionality of the law, but said doctors in the state should be allowed to prescribe life-ending drugs to terminally ill patients.

Polling Data

If a person has a disease that will ultimately destroy their mind or body and they want to take their own life, should a doctor be allowed to assist the person in taking their own life, or not?

July 2005 January 2006
Should be allowed 54% 56%
Should not 39% 37%
Not sure 7% 7%

Source: CBS News
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,229 American adults, conducted from Jan. 20 to Jan. 25, 2006. Margin of error is 3 per cent.

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