Physician and family assisted suicide: results from a study of public attitudes in Britain

Attitudes towards legalising physician provided euthanasia in Britain: The role of religion over time

“…While we interpret the data as reflective of attitudes to euthanasia we concede the possibility of confusion on the part of the respondents with assisted suicide in the responses provided. We study the trends in the support for legalisation of euthanasia through the time points and the relationship between attitudes, religious denomination and religiosity, controlling for a series of covariates identical to those used by O'Neill et al (2003) in a cross sectional analysis of 1994 data.…”

“…We assume that the attitudes towards euthanasia might be correlated with respondent's satisfaction with the health care system as an indicator of unmet need (Largey and O'Neill, 1996;Seale and Addington-Hall, 1995b), and hence, control for this relation. Again following O'Neill et al (2003) we sought to capture an individual's autonomy of opinion regarding attitudes to the law by incorporating their stated willingness to ignore a law they disagreed with.…”

“…A number of studies have demonstrated public support for legalisation of assisted suicide/dying and/or euthanasia across a number of countries including the UK (Albanese, 1996;Caddell and Newton, 1995;Dietz, 1997;McLean and Britton, 1996;Seale and Addington-Hall, 1994, 1995a, 1995bWise, 1996;O'Neill et al, 2003). These attitudes vary depending on for whom legal protection is sought e whether family members or physicians (O'Neill et al, 2003) e as well as on whose opinions are sought and on the precise wording of the question posed (Clements, 2014).…”

“…These attitudes vary depending on for whom legal protection is sought e whether family members or physicians (O'Neill et al, 2003) e as well as on whose opinions are sought and on the precise wording of the question posed (Clements, 2014). A body of literature has demonstrated the importance of religious beliefs in attitudes to these subjects both in terms of the strength of the religious affiliation e religiosity (Bachman et al, 1996;Baume et al, 1995;Jorgenson and Neubecker, 1980;Kalish, 1963;O'Neill et al, 2003;Suarez-Almazor et al, 1997;Ward, 1980), and in terms of the religious denomination with which one is affiliated (Anderson and Caddell, 1993;Caddell and Newton, 1995;O'Neill et al, 2003). Interestingly studies have shown that a majority of doctors in the UK oppose legalisation of physician assisted suicide and euthanasia and that their religiosity appears to affect their attitudes (McCormack et al, 2012), a finding echoed elsewhere (Gielen et al, 2009).…”

Determinants of Public Attitudes towards Euthanasia in Adults and Physician-Assisted Death in Neonates in Austria: A National Survey

“…The latter is attributed to the rejection of euthanasia by religious authorities and their teachings, rooted in religious beliefs of absolute morals and the divine privilege of giving and taking lives (“sanctity of life” argument) [ 25 ], adherence to key religious beliefs such as eternal damnation for (assisted) suicide or heavenly salvation as a future relief for those who suffer, and integration into religious social networks, reinforcing these beliefs [ 26 ]. Mixed results have been obtained for gender, age, and area of residence (urban vs. rural) [ 5 , 17 , 19 – 21 ]. Recently, it has been suggested that personal experience in end-of-life-care for family members or friends is associated with higher support for euthanasia in the face of grave and in the end futile suffering [ 24 ], whereas a reversed argument has been brought forward for physicians, who due to occupational responsibility, involvement in the actual act and potential legal consequences are more reserved towards euthanasia than the general public [ 10 , 12 , 24 , 27 – 28 ].…”