Less Support For Assisted Suicide In Non-Immediately Life Threatening Cases
by Gary Edwards and Josephine Mazzuca

TORONTO, ONT - In 1997, Robert Latimer was convicted of second-degree murder for the mercy killing of his severely disabled daughter. As he prepares his appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada to overturn his sentencing, the issues of doctor-assisted suicide and euthanasia have once again surfaced in the Canadian media.

Gallup has once again sampled the opinions of Canadians on the topic of mercy killing. As was the case over the last three years, about three quarters of Canadians (77%) believe that doctors should be allowed to end the life of a patient whose life is immediately threatened by a disease that causes the patient to experience great suffering. In fact, this statistic has remained quite stable over the past ten years (between 75% and 78%), despite the fact that prior to 1995 the question did not state that the disease was immediately life threatening. This month, nineteen percent (19%) of Canadians oppose doctor-assisted suicide in life-threatening situations, and 4% hold no opinion.

Less Support for Assisted Suicide in Non-Immediately Life-Threatening Cases
Canadians are less likely to support doctor-assisted suicide if the patient is suffering from a disease that is not immediately life threatening, such as a chronically debilitating illness. However, euthanasia in these cases still draws majority support. Fifty-seven percent (57%) of Canadians believe that doctors should be allowed, by law, to end the life of a patient who suffers from a disease that does not immediately threaten his or her life. This figure is unchanged since 1995. Thirty-six percent (36%) hold the opposite opinion, while 7% hold no opinion.

Methodology
Today's results are based on 1,004 telephone interviews with adults, 18 years of age and older, conducted November 9-15, 1998. A sample of this size is accurate within a 3.1 percentage point margin of error, 19 in 20 times. A stratified random sample is used with age and sex weights. The margins of error are higher for the regions reflecting smaller sample sizes. For example, in Quebec, 270 interviews were conducted, with a margin of error of 6 percentage points, 19 in 20 times.

Dr. R. Gary Edwards is Vice President of Gallup and Josephine Mazzuca is Research Analyst

"When a person has an incurable disease that is immediately life-threatening and causes that person to experience great suffering, do you, or do you not think that competent doctors should be allowed by law to end the patient's life through mercy killing, if the patient has made a formal request in writing?"

Should Doctor-Assisted Suicide Be Permitted In Immediately Life-Threatening Cases

	Yes	No	No Opinion
National:
1998 Nov 9-15	77%	19%	4%
1997 Nov 17-23	76	18	7
1995 Jul 4-10	75	17	8
Region:
Atlantic	67%	30%	3%
Quebec	82	15	3
Ontario	74	21	5
Prairies	70	27	4
B.C.	89	8	3

"When a person has an incurable disease that is not immediately life-threatening but causes that person to experience great suffering, do you, or do you not think that competent doctors should be allowed by law to end the patient's life through mercy killing, if the patient has made a formal request in writing?"

Should Doctor-Assisted Suicide Be Permitted In Non-Immediately Life-Threatening Cases

	Yes	No	No Opinion
National:
1998 Nov 9-15	57%	36%	7%
1997 Nov 17-23	57	34	8
1995 Jul 4-10	57	32	11
Region:
Atlantic	45%	52%	4%
Quebec	64	30	6
Ontario	56	38	6
Prairies	58	34	7
B.C.	54	37	9

Prior question:
"When a person has an incurable disease that causes great suffering, do you, or do you not think that competent doctors should be allowed by law to end the patient's life through mercy killing, if the patient has made a formal request in writing?"

	Yes, Should	No, Should Not	No Opinion
National:
1994 Dec 5-11	76%	16%	8%
1994 Mar 7-13	75	17	8
1992 Oct 15-19	77	17	6
1991 Oct 2-5	75	17	9
1990 Aug 8-11	78	14	8
1989 Jun 7-10	77	17	6
1984 Feb 2-4	66	24	10
1979 Sep 6-8	68	23	9
1974 Mar 2-5	55	35	10
1968 August	45	43	12