MPs support euthanasia for the terminally ill
December 16, 2009
A new poll commissioned by Dignity in Dying an organization which supports euthanasia for terminally ill patients who are of sound mind indicates that the attitude of MPs may be changing to a level of support for the idea. The Ipsos Mori poll of MPs showed that fifty-three percent of the 112 who responded thought that doctors in the U.K. who helped terminally ill patients to die after a direct request to do so from that patient should not have to face prosecution.
When a similar poll was conducted in 1995 seventy percent of the MPs who responded were opposed to the idea. This figure rose to seventy-nine percent when the poll was again conducted in 2004.
The attitude of MPs to euthanasia is still at odds with the public’s opinion on the matter. Another Ipsos Mori poll commissioned by Dignity in Dying which was rolled out to the U.K. public suggested that seventy-six percent of adults felt that if a patient was dying of an incurable disease and asked to be taken abroad to a country where euthanasia is legal then those assisting in the death should not be open to any prosecution by the U.K. courts.
Dignity in Dying’s chief executive, Sarah Wootton explained that although the examination of the poll’s results must be undertaken with extreme care they did seem to suggest that there is a shift in attitudes. She said that it raised hopes that the country’s decision makers now seemed to be opening up to the idea that patient’s eligible for assisted death should probably have the right to pursue the option.
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