Advocates of assisted suicide hoped the high profile suicide of a 29 year-old brain cancer victim named Brittany Maynard last fall would revive efforts to make assisted suicide legal across the country, but measures introduced in four states have already stalled due to lack of support.

A new Marist Poll sponsored by the Knights of Columbus found that a majority of Americans do not support assisted suicide and that strong majorities harbor deep concerns over such proposals.

Compassion & Choices, the pro-euthanasia group which was endorsed by Brittany Maynard, who ended her life by swallowing a lethal dose of drugs on November 1, 2014, had hoped that the embrace of the issue by such a young and once vibrant woman would cause public sentiment to become more favorable toward the issue.

These hopes caused a  number of pro-euthanasia legislators to introduce bills in state houses across the country, but the Marist Poll shows that Americans are still not sold on the idea. As a result, assisted suicide proposals have stalled in a number of states, including Connecticut, Maryland, Colorado and Nevada.

The poll found that more than six in 10 Americans (61 percent) do not support a doctor prescribing or administering a lethal drug dose, saying that a doctor should instead only manage an illness or remove life support.

Additionally, 57 percent of Americans say they are less likely to trust a doctor who engages in assisted suicide.

Strong majorities of Americans also have many common sense concerns about assisted suicide, including:

• 67 percent are concerned that fewer life-saving options will be given at end of life.
• 65 percent are concerned that the elderly will be at risk in nursing homes.
• 64 percent are concerned that the depressed will be more likely to take their lives.
• 59 percent are concerned about a wrong diagnosis.
• 55 percent are concerned that the doctor could misjudge a patient’s state of mind.
• 55 percent are concerned that it will become a cost-saving measure for health care decisions.
• 54 percent are concerned that patients will be pressured to take their life so as not to be a burden.

When asked only if they support allowing a doctor to prescribe a lethal drug dose, only 43 percent support the practice with 57 percent either opposing it (36%) or claiming to not have a position about it (21%).

Assisted suicide is also not considered to be a priority issue by most Americans. Only about 22 percent consider it to be a top priority, while 78 percent rank the economy and 64 percent say affordable health care as more pressing issues.

“The American people are deeply concerned about the possible tragic consequences of this sort of legislation, and want doctors to heal and relieve pain rather than to be agents of death,” said Knights of Columbus CEO Carl Anderson. “It is not surprising that this legislation has failed so widely since it would sow distrust in the doctor-patient relationship. The most vulnerable – those with an incorrect diagnosis, as well as the mentally ill and depressed, and those with lower quality health insurance – would be particularly at risk.”

Anderson added, “There are many issues that are actually pressing matters for the United States, but the poll makes clear that this is not one of them.”

The survey of 2,079 adults was conducted Jan. 7-13, 2015. Results are statistically significant within ±2.1 percentage points.

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