Growing minority of Americans against allowing patients to refuse treatment, die

Nov. 22 (UPI) -- A majority of Americans, nearly two thirds, believe that there are circumstances in which doctors can stop treatment or care and a patient should be allowed to die. But a growing minority, 31 percent, believe doctors should do everything possible to save the patient.

These findings were released in a report by the Pew Research Foundation. The numbers are interesting in the backdrop of the fight over healthcare costs and insurance raging through the country.

The share of Americans who agree doctors and nurses should do everything possible to save a patient’s life has gone up 9 percentage points since 2005 and 16 points since 1990, though some of that comes from a drop in respondents answering that they are unsure.

But if respondents had to make the same decision in a personal situation, people said they would consider the circumstances.

About 57 percent said they would ask doctors to stop treatment if they had an incurable disease and were suffering a great deal of pain, while 52 percent said they would make the same request if they had a incurable disease and needed someone else to take care of them.

But 35 percent said that they would want all the care and treatment possible irrespective of the circumstances.

The opinion on physician-assisted suicide was closely split with 49 percent saying they disapproved of it and 47 percent were supportive of a doctor prescribing lethal drugs to help a patient commit suicide.

The religiously unaffiliated were by far the most likely, at 85 percent, to say patients have a moral right to suicide when they are in a great deal of pain and have no hope of improvement.

When it came to personal preferences, there was no clear situation where people would support ending their own lives. Fifty seven percent said that if they had a disease with no hopes of improvement and were in incredible pain they would ask doctors to stop treatment so that they could die, while 35 percent opposed this.

An interesting trend was seen when the same question was asked across age groups. While 74 percent of those aged 75 or older said there were circumstances in which a patient should be allowed to die, only 54 percent of respondents aged 18-29 agreed.

When it came to deciding who would make the final call, eight-in-ten agreed that the closest family member should be allowed to make this decision when the patient is unable.