How you feel about euthanasia depends on whether it is called "painless death" or "suicide"

An interesting and important piece from Gallup.com (which is always a fun site to explore):

In the same month that Vermont became the fourth state to legalize physician-assisted suicide, a May 2-7 Gallup survey finds 70% of Americans in favor of allowing doctors to hasten a terminally ill patient's death when the matter is described as allowing doctors to "end the patient's life by some painless means." At the same time, far fewer -- 51% -- support it when the process is described as doctors helping a patient "commit suicide."

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Americans generally favor allowing doctors to assist terminally ill patients in ending their lives, but the degree of support ranges from 51% to 70%, depending on how the process is described. A wording that refers to the patient's intention to end his or her life as "suicide," doesn't say family members are involved in the decision, and doesn't specify that the procedure will involve "painless means" produces lower support than the alternative wording. However, the resulting difference offers important insights into the complex nature of Americans' views on this question, as well as the negative connotation suicide has, generally. Underscoring this, the same poll finds just 16% of Americans saying suicide is morally acceptable. At the same time, the public is evenly split over whether "doctor-assisted suicide" is morally acceptable: 45% say it is, and 49% say it is not.

 

 Dr. Jack Kevorkian