Public support for legal assistance to die

Old age ra)onal suicide A na)onal poll of UK adults

12 March 2013

2

50%

60%

20%

18%

9%

7%

7%

4%

11%

8%

4%

4%

Elderly health problems

Terminal illness

Strongly agree Tend to agree Neither Tend to disagree Strongly disagree Don't know

The vast majority agree that assisted suicide should be legal, parKcularly in the event of terminal illness

Q How much do you agree or disagree with the following two statements? A mentally competent adult should be legally allowed to receive a doctor's assistance to die if... ... They are suffering unbearably from a terminal illness they are expected to die from within six months ... They are very elderly and suffering unbearably from a variety of serious health problems that they will not die from, if this is their persistent request Base: All adults (1002), ICM Telephone Omnibus fieldwork 8-‐10 March 2013

A mentally competent adult should be legally allowed to receive a doctor’s assistance to die in the event of...

78% agree

70% agree

3

78% 76% 78%

67% 66% 70%

20%

40%

60%

80%

Terminal illness Elderly with health problems

There has been no staKsKcally significant change in overall agreement since July 2010…

Q.12 How much do you agree or disagree with the following two statements? A mentally competent adult should be legally allowed to receive a doctor's assistance to die if... ... They are suffering unbearably from a terminal illness they are expected to die from within six months ... They are very elderly and suffering unbearably from a variety of serious health problems that they will not die from, if this is their persistent request Base: All adults, ICM Telephone Omnibus (July 2010: 1009/ March 2011: 1008/ March 2013: 1002)

Total who ‘strongly’ or ‘tend to’ agree that a mentally competent adult should be legally allowed to receive a doctor’s assistance to die in the event of...

4

54% 54% 60%

40% 41%

50%

20%

40%

60%

80%


…but more now ‘strongly’ agree with legal assistance to die in the event of both terminal illness and elderly with health problems

Q.12 How much do you agree or disagree with the following two statements? A mentally competent adult should be legally allowed to receive a doctor's assistance to die if... ... They are suffering unbearably from a terminal illness they are expected to die from within six months ... They are very elderly and suffering unbearably from a variety of serious health problems that they will not die from, if this is their persistent request Base: All adults, ICM Telephone Omnibus (July 2010: 1009/ March 2011: 1008/ March 2013: 1002)

Total who ‘strongly’ agree that a mentally competent adult should be legally allowed to receive a doctor’s assistance to die in the event of...

5

Looking at differences by age and educaKon: %s that ‘strongly agree’ with each statement

Terminal illness Elderly with health problems 2010 2011 2013 2010 2011 2013

Age

18-‐34 46 55 58 37 38 49

35-‐44 63 60 60 39 43 47

45-‐64 59 52 63 45 41 53

65+ 51 51 57 40 43 51

EducaKon

Secondary 56 56 65 43 41 55

University 53 52 53 38 41 41

Higher 47 51 55 26 37 51

All 54 54 60 40 41 50

With respect to differences in age: •  Support is strongest for legal assistance in the event of terminal illness among the 35-‐64 year olds but the 18-‐34 year olds

drove the early growth in support, the 35-‐64 year olds, the more recent growth in support

•  Support in the event of health problems tends to be stronger among the over 45s but support is growing among all ages (and especially the 18-‐24 year olds)

With respect to differences in educa)on: •  Support among those in university educaKon has remained stable while support among those who just have secondary

educaKon has grown somewhat in the last 2 years

•  There is a very strong growth in support for legal assistance in the event of health problems among those with postgraduate educaKon

Base sizes for each group are between 103 and 499

6

Technical note (telephone research)

•  A total of 1,002 interviews were completed between 8-‐10 March 2013 with UK adults aged 18+ (1008 on 4-‐6 March 2011 and 1,009 on 2-‐4 July 2010)

•  Interviews were conducted by telephone and the data was collected by ICM Omnibus •  Quotas were set by age, gender and working status then weighted to achieve a representaKve sample of

UK adults •  This report is accompanied by data tables •  The research was commissioned by the Society for Old Age RaKonal Suicide •  Any reporKng of poll findings needs to include the details of this technical note and credit Kindle Research

and the Society for Old Age RaKonal Suicide

7

32%

44%

28%

28%

16%

10%

7%

4%

7%

5%

11%

6%

Elderly health problems

Terminal illness

Strongly agree Tend to agree Neither Tend to disagree Strongly disagree Don't know

Fewer agree when a similar sample is asked the same quesKons online, especially among those who ‘strongly’ agree

Q.12 How much do you agree or disagree with the following two statements? A mentally competent adult should be legally allowed to receive a doctor's assistance to die if... ... They are suffering unbearably from a terminal illness they are expected to die from within six months ... They are very elderly and suffering unbearably from a variety of serious health problems that they will not die from, if this is their persistent request Base: All adults, ICM Online Omnibus (2,000)

A mentally competent adult should be legally allowed to receive a doctor’s assistance to die in the event of...

71% agree

60% agree

8

73% 0.71

60% 0.6

20%

40%

60%

80%


As with the telephone research, there has been no staKsKcally significant change in overall agreement since July 2010…

Q.12 How much do you agree or disagree with the following two statements? A mentally competent adult should be legally allowed to receive a doctor's assistance to die if... ... They are suffering unbearably from a terminal illness they are expected to die from within six months ... They are very elderly and suffering unbearably from a variety of serious health problems that they will not die from, if this is their persistent request Base: All adults, ICM Online Omnibus (March 2011: 2024/ March 2013: 2000)

Total who ‘strongly’ or ‘tend to’ agree that a mentally competent adult should be legally allowed to receive a doctor’s assistance to die in the event of...

9

41% 44%

27% 32%

20%

40%

60%

80%


…and there are also more who now ‘strongly’ agree with legal assistance to die in both situaKons

Q.12 How much do you agree or disagree with the following two statements? A mentally competent adult should be legally allowed to receive a doctor's assistance to die if... ... They are suffering unbearably from a terminal illness they are expected to die from within six months ... They are very elderly and suffering unbearably from a variety of serious health problems that they will not die from, if this is their persistent request Base: All adults, ICM Online Omnibus (March 2011: 2024/ March 2013: 2000)

Total who ‘strongly’ agree that a mentally competent adult should be legally allowed to receive a doctor’s assistance to die in the event of...

10

Technical note (online research)

•  A total of 2,000 interviews were completed between 8-‐10 March 2013 with UK adults aged 18+ (2,024 interviews 4-‐6 March 2011)

•  Interviews were conducted online and the data was collected by ICM Omnibus from their panel of 135,000 panellists (largely recruited by telephone)

•  Quotas were set by age, gender and working status then weighted to achieve a representaKve sample of UK adults

•  For the second wave running we have a similar finding: the online sample produces a slightly lower level of overall agreement but a rather lower level of those who ‘strongly’ agree. It should also be noted that slightly more disagree in the telephone sample. Views are more extreme in the telephone sample, and more moderate in the online sample.

•  It is likely that there is something about the method of data collecKon that is influencing the proporKons who agree 'strongly. There are a couple of possibiliKes: –  People are considering the moral or legal implicaKons more carefully and moderaKng their views

because they recognise the complexity or their own lack of understanding. –  The lack of an interviewer removes any social pressure to give a socially desirable or morally correct

answer to the interviewer

Public support for legal assistance to die

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