Americans’ Attitude Towards Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide

The majority of Americans support euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide but some have a certain attitude towards it. Current events affected public opinion on end-of-life decisions. But, Americans have historically supported the right to end one’s life when one’s perceived quality of life has dramatically decreased. 

Attitudes toward Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide 

This article gives details about Americans’ attitudes toward euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. It examines the consequences for social workers who serve clients facing end-of-life decisions.

First of all, we have to know the definition of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. Then we can understand Americans’ attitudes toward euthanasia.

What are euthanasia and assisted suicide?

Euthanasia. A doctor ends a person’s life painlessly if the patient and their family consent.

Assisted suicide. Assisted suicide is when a doctor helps a patient commit suicide on their own request.

Types of euthanasia

Here are the types of euthanasia:

• Voluntary. When the patient consent to euthanasia. In Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, and the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington, voluntary euthanasia is officially legal. 
• Non-voluntary. When euthanasia is conducted on an individual who is unable to consent due to their current health condition. It is referred to as non-voluntary euthanasia. Another appropriate person decides on behalf of the patient in this case.
• Involuntary. When euthanasia is conducted on someone who is capable of providing informed consent but does not, either because they do not want to die or because they were not asked. This is referred to as murder because it is often done against the patient’s will.

Euthanasia procedures

There are two types of euthanasia procedures:

When life-sustaining treatments are withheld, this is referred to as passive euthanasia. The definitions are unclear. If a doctor prescribes increasing doses of strong painkillers, such as opioids, the patient may gradually become toxic. Some may argue that this is euthanasia by passive means. On the other hand, others say that this is not euthanasia because no life is being taken.

Active euthanasia happens when a person, whether the patient or anyone else, uses lethal substances or forces to end a patient’s life. Active euthanasia is more controversial. And theological, moral, ethical, and humane arguments come to life here.

What is assisted suicide?

There are many common interpretations and definitions of assisted suicide.

One is intentionally helping someone in committing suicide by supplying medications for self-administration at their voluntary and competent request. Some definitions include the word to reduce intractable (constant, unstoppable) suffering.

The role of palliative care

People with cancer and other life-threatening, chronic illnesses will also receive palliative treatment. This is because pain is the most visible sign of distress and constant suffering. Doctors often prescribe opioids to treat pain and other symptoms.

Opioids’ side effects include drowsiness, nausea, vomiting, and constipation. They are also potentially addictive. A drug overdose is life-threatening.

Americans’ Attitudes toward Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide

Since the early 1800s, euthanasia has been a point of controversy in America and other nations.

In 1828, the state of New York approved the first anti-euthanasia law in the United States. Other states eventually followed suit.

In America, a euthanasia society was established in 1938 to support assisted suicide. In Switzerland, physician-assisted suicide became legal in 1937. During the 1960s, there was an increase in demand for a right-to-die approach to euthanasia.

In 2002, the Netherlands decriminalized doctor-assisted suicide and reduced some restrictions. In Belgium, doctor-assisted suicide was legalized in 2002.

Formal ethics committees now operate in hospitals, nursing homes, and hospitals in the United States. These were made legal in California in 1977, and other states soon followed suit. A living will express a person’s wishes for medical treatment if they cannot make their own decisions.

The Supreme Court permitted the use of non-active euthanasia in 1990. The Death with Dignity Act, passed by Oregon voters in 1994, allowed physicians to assist terminal patients who were not expected to live more than six months.

In 1997, the U.S. Supreme Court approved such legislation. And Texas legalized non-active euthanasia in 1999. Terri Schiavo suffered a cardiac arrest in 1990 and spent 15 years in a vegetative state. Then her husband requested to allow her to die. This provoked controversy in Florida and throughout the Americas. Over the past several years, the case involved numerous decisions, appeals, motions, petitions, and court hearings before disconnecting Schiavo’s life support was reached in 2005.

The Florida Legislature, the United States Congress, and President George W. Bush all played a part.

The Death with Dignity Act was approved by 57.91 percent of Washington State voters in 2008. And it became law in 2009.

There are many reasons for and against euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide.

The Bottom Line

In countries where euthanasia or assisted suicide are legal, they account for between 0.3 and 4.6 percent of all deaths. And cancer is responsible for more than 70% of all deaths. Per year, less than 1% of physicians in Oregon and Washington write prescriptions to help suicide.