The British public very strongly supports the idea of assisted suicide when conducted by the family GP, according to a survey. A smaller majority would also support a family member helping a relation to commit suicide.
A study of public attitudes to assisted suicide is published today in the Journal of Medical Ethics. Researchers from the University of Ulster, Jordanstown, and Queen's University Belfast analysed data collected during the 1994 British Social Attitudes Survey.
The survey asked two questions about whether a person with "a painful incurable disease" should be assisted in ending their life by either a doctor or a family member.
The questions asked: "Do you think that doctors should be allowed by law to end the patient's life if the patient requests it?" and "Do you think that someone else, like a close relative, should be allowed by law to help end the patient's life if the patient requests it?"
The survey included almost 1,000 usable responses to the two questions. A majority of 84 per cent were in favour of legislation to allow physician-assisted suicide. A smaller majority of 54 per cent supported the legalisation of family-assisted suicide.
The figure for physician involvement was well ahead of a similar 1994 survey conducted in the US, where 75 per cent were in favour of a doctor being allowed to assist. The comparable figure in Australia was 73 per cent, according to a 1995 survey.
The Northern Ireland researchers also looked at the UK responses on the basis of age, religious affiliation and whether the respondent was disabled. "Support was not significantly weaker among older age groups or the disabled," the authors noted. "Strength of religious affiliation (measured in terms of frequency of church attendance) was a significant determinant of opposition to legalisation," they added.
The researchers found that Church of England, non-Christian faiths and those of no faith were more likely to support physician-assisted suicide than Catholics or those of other Christian denominations. Only strength of religious affiliation and age were found to be significant predictors of attitudes to family-assisted suicide.
The researchers advised caution in any interpretation of the results. This type of survey provided "a snapshot of attitudes, attitudes that may change in the light of changing circumstances".
