71% of Americans support legal euthanasia

A majority of Americans, 71 percent, believe doctors should be “allowed by law to end the patient’s life by some painless means if the patient and his or her family request it,” and only 39 percent say it’s a morally unacceptable procedure. Such results were received by a recent Gallup survey, VOA reports.

At the same time, doctor-assisted suicide—a term used to describe patients ending their own lives with the aid of a physician -- garners slightly less but still majority support. Sixty-six percent of Americans believe doctors should “be allowed by law to assist the patient to commit suicide” for terminal patients living in severe pain who request it.

Doctor-assisted suicide is legal in 11 US jurisdictions under stringent requirements. No states currently allow euthanasia, but physicians are ethically allowed to withdraw life-sustaining treatment for a terminal patient should current interventions not facilitate the patient’s quality of life.

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