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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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The public's viewpoint on the right to hastened death in Alberta, Canada
— findings from a population survey study | | Author(s) | Donna M Wilson, Stephen Birch, Rod MacLeod |
| Journal title | Health and Social Care in the Community, vol 21, no 2, March 2013 |
| Publisher | Wiley, March 2013 |
| Pages | pp 200-208 |
| Source | www.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journals/hsc |
| Keywords | Dying ; Euthanasia ; Rights [elderly] ; Social ethics ; Social surveys ; Canada. |
| Annotation | A research study was conducted to determine public opinion in Alberta, Canada, on the controversial topic of death hastening. Questions on the right to hastened death, end-of-life plans and end-of-life experiences were included in the Population Research Laboratory's annual 2010 health-care telephone survey, with 1,203 adults providing results relatively representative of Albertans. Of all 1,203, 72.6% said yes to the question: `Should dying adults be able to request and get help from others to end their life early, in other words, this is a request for assisted suicide'? Among all who provided an answer, 36.8% indicated `yes, every competent adult should have this right' and 40.6% indicated `yes, but it should be allowed only in certain cases or situations'. Over 50% of respondents in all but one socio-demographic population sub-group (Religious-other) were supportive of the right to hastened death. However, multinomial regression analysis revealed that the experiences of deciding to euthanise a pet/animal and developing or planning to develop an advance directive predicted support, while self-reported religiosity predicted non-support. Finding majority public support for death hastening suggests that legalisation could potentially occur in the future. However such a policy should first require a careful consideration of the model of assisted suicide or euthanasia that best protects people who are highly vulnerable to despair and suffering near the end of life. (JL). |
| Accession Number | CPA-130201209 A |
| Classmark | CX: CY: IKR: TQ: 3F: 7S |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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