Posted on 05/29/2007 9:41:57 PM PDT by monomaniac
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- As assisted suicide crusader Jack Kevorkian is set to be released later this week, a new poll conducted by the Associated Press finds Americans appear divided on the issue of assisted suicide. The poll also found a majority of people didn't think Kevorkian should have been jailed, though it asked an inaccurate question.
Conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs, a polling firm that does surveys for AP, the poll found that people were more encouraging of death for others than for themselves.
Some 68 percent of those polled indicated that there are circumstances in which doctors should let patients die while just 30 percent said physicians should do everything possible to save the life of a patient.
But 55 percent indicated they would not consider ending their own lives if faced with a serious illness or terminal disease.
On the question of assisted suicide itself, Americans are divided with 48 percent saying it should be legal for "doctors to help terminally ill patients end their own life by giving them a prescription for fatal drugs."
Another 44 percent disagreed and 8 percent were unsure or refused to answer the question.
The poll included interviews with 1,000 adults, of whom 840 were registered voters. The four percent split on assisted suicide is just outside the 3.1 percent margin of error for the adults and the 3.4 percent margin of error for the registered voters.
Ipsos also asked respondents: "Do you think that Michigan doctor Jack Kevorkian should have been jailed for assisting terminally ill people end their own life, or not?"
Some 53 percent said no while 40 percent agreed -- but the question gave those polled erroneous information about why Kevorkian was jailed.
Kevorkian claims to have killed 130 people via assisted suicide but he was never prosecuted for those deaths. Instead, Kevorkian was sent to prison in 1999 after showing a videotape on CBS News of him euthanizing Thomas Youk, who was in the latter stages of Lou Gehrig's disease.
Unlike in the assisted suicide deaths, Kevorkian actively takes the life of Youk rather than setting up his assisted suicide machine for patients to use to commit suicide.
An AP story by national writer David Crary, did not mention the bias associated with the question in his news story on the poll and tied the Kevorkian question specifically to the debate about assisted suicide -- never mentioning Youk's death and the difference it highlights.
Back to assisted suicide, the Ipsos poll found that a person's religious views has great bearing on their opinion about the grisly practice.
Only 34 percent of churchgoing respondents -- those who go to services once a week or more -- back assisted suicide while 70 percent who never attend religious services are supportive.
Comparatively, only 23 percent of churchgoers would consider ending their own lives while 49 percent of those who don't attend religious services would do so.
Attitudes on assisted suicide and its legalization also varied based on political party with 57 percent of Democrats saying it should be legal while just 39 percent of Republicans agreed. Along the same lines, 56 percent of GOP voters say Kevorkian should have been jailed while only 31 percent of Democrats concur.
Support for assisted suicide was lowest in the South and Midwest and the highest in the Northeast and West -- following the same lines as views on abortion.
The Ipsos poll was conducted from May 22-24.
“The public is a jackass” Mark Twain.
Guess you never watched anyone in pain die.
Looks like the stats are with compassion. so sorry to dissapoint you.
kevorkian came about because we can not yet deal with the pain and other problems of the dying in this country! I don’t like him either, but why not look at the reality of the less than adequate care of terminal patients!
“Comparatively, only 23 percent of churchgoers would consider ending their own lives while 49 percent of those who don’t attend religious services would do so. “
Hard to believe. Me thinks this poll is skewed.
Just starve them to death. It was good enough for Teri. < /s >
I’ll just toss my $0.02 cents in here.
While I have problems with the idea of taking an innocent life, I do not have a problem with an individual otherwise in their right mind choosing to take their own life. It’s one of those funny little things about freedom - one’s freedom to live as one chooses, IMHO, also encompasses one’s right to die if you so desire.
Two quick comments:
Even with the right to die, I can’t stand Kevorkian’s methods. Wandering death dealer who barely knows the patient is not the way to go. That would still be a felony if I were authoring an assisted suicide bill.
People forget that Kevorkian was willing to go to jail. He showed that tape for a reason, hoping to get a trial where he could at least raise awareness of the issue, or at best he could win a precedent. It was a gamble he purposely took, and lost.
Assisted suicide is one of those situations in life where there are two choices - bad and worse.
And while I think it should be closely monitored, I think that these are the kinds of things that are NOT the part of the proper role of government.
Churches, yes. Boy Scouts, yes. Doctors and therapists, yes. TV Telecons and just about all other parts of society might have a part.
But government?
No.
antiRepublicrat: “He showed that tape for a reason, hoping to get a trial where he could at least raise awareness of the issue, or at best he could win a precedent. It was a gamble he purposely took, and lost.”
Or did he lose? If, while he served his sentence, many Americans have been convinced that that he was not an evil murderer, did he lose?
Personally I believe we should be allowed to end our lives when we can no longer bear to go on, or when we no longer know our families. I say this as a Babyboomer whose mother lived for years after she ceased to know who she was, much less who her family members were. To be blunt, I do not want my children to pay sixty thousand plus dollars a year to keep me alive when I no longer know that I am a human being with ties to other human beings. And no, I did not pay the money for my mother’s nursing home fees. I could not have afforded to do so. My father had planned for these eventualities and bought good insurance. These options are drying up, as insurance companies close the loopholes for keeping the demented alive for many years. There is no way I’d want my husband or children to waste their resources on my survival as an unconscious body.
Whatever Kevorkian’s character, he highlighted problems being encountered by Boomers that have changed our perspectives on end of life decisions.
I always thought that his death machine was overly complex, costly and required too much intervention. If someone wanted to end their life, a plastic bag over their head a hose and a bottle of nitrogen gas would do.
SO WEIRD that more churchgoers than non-churchgoers would perceive some larger reason for their life which would render suicide a blasphemy. It’s not possible, is it, that many adults go to a house of worship because they believe that they stand in some kind of relationship to God?
Classy.
Much of what goes on during poisonings/executions/end-of-life scenarios is not to make it any easier for the deceased.
Living humans don’t like to see dying humans go into convulsions.
Exactly. Whatever the issue, you somewhat have to admire a person who is perfectly willing to go to jail for his cause, especially someone so old he may never leave. And he literally taunted the prosecutor to try him.
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