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According to a new poll released by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 70% approve of the right to die.
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/010606RightToDiePoll.html
--Pew research conducted the poll about two months ago in Nov 2005
--The sample consists of 1,500 participants
--The questions are listed in the article
I probably bristle the most at quotes like this:
"Most Americans believe it should be up to individuals, not the government or medical professionals, to ultimately determine their end-of-life medical decisions".
Terri Schiavo is mentioned within the article as relating to the survey. Once again, do people still think out there that Terri's court ordered starvation and dehydration is an Act of God and that the only "government" interference was from Congressional Republicans (and some Democrats) or earlier from the Florida State Legislature? Is a county probate court somehow exempted from being considered "the government ultimately determining their end-of-life medical decisions"? If so, I have a bridge I'll sell you.
I don't always have time for this anymore. But I took a visit to this link on the Pew Research site at http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?PageID=1030 and discovered first that the survey was ordered by...yup...you guessed it, no one other than good ol' Princeton U, home of Peter Singer, that big-time, wild-eyed pro-death eugenics figure.
I have no quarrel with Pew Research and their methodology of obtaining their sample. I mean Pew Research does scientific sampling and it's not like only employees of George Felos or Ronald Cranford, the Florida State Guardian Association membership roster or the Clearwater Bar Association were the only ones that Pew called.
By now, I'm wishing I would have just prepared to go to my office and not deal with this, but now I just had to open the questionnaire. http://people-press.org/reports/pdf/266topline.pdf
There are six questions that begin this survey which arguably have nothing to do with the issue being polled. To me, my guess is that Princeton wanted to get a little extra information for their nickel, so they could write up some new polls. If I were Pew Research, I would have either refused or demanded that Princeton cough up some more money for their political fishing expedition (which can be most clearly illustrated by viewing the details of the first few questions).
ROTATE Q.1 AND Q.2
Q.1 Generally, how would you say things are these days in your life -- would you say that you are very happy, pretty happy, or not too happy?
Q.2 All in all, are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way things are going in this country today?
Q.3 We're interested in what things people are talking about with family, friends and co-workers. As I read from a list, tell me if this is something that you've talked about recently, or not? (First,) how about...
Q.4 Now I have some questions on the subject of aging. First, do you think you would like to live to be 100 years old or not?
Q.5 When you think about getting old, what do you LOOK FORWARD TO the most? (Do Not Read, ACCEPT MULTIPLE RESPONSES)
Q.6 When you think about getting old, what WORRIES you the most? (Do Not Read Accept Multiple Responses)
There are 17 PAGES OF QUESTIONS within this survey! (I'd be ready to have life support taken away too, after enduring that long of a harangue).
On the first on-topic question, I couldn't help noticing that there were apparently listed two columns of results, one showing attitudes in 1990 and then the current results from this new poll.
Q.7 Which comes closer to your view? In all circumstances, doctors and nurses should do everything possible to save the life of a patient. Or, sometimes there are circumstances where a patient should be allowed to die.
In May of 1990, the results were as follows:
15%-Always save a life
73%-Sometimes let a patient die
12%-It Depends
But in Nov 2005, the results to the same question are as follows:
22%-Always save a life
70%-Sometimes let a patient die
8%-It Depends
Hmm. The percentage of those polled that have a firm belief that everything possible should be done to keep a person alive grew by nearly 50% between 1990 and 2005!
The percentage of those believing that it's okay to let someone die fell by about 5% during the same period...
The results also shows that more fence sitters have gravitated toward the "keep a person alive" column than "it's okay to let someone die" column.
Perhaps the title of this survey should have been named for the reality which it truly represents:
PRO-DEATH UNIVERSITY PAYS TO CONDUCT SURVEY ONLY TO FIND THAT CULTURAL TRENDS HAVE MOVED AWAY FROM WITHDRAWING CARE FROM SICK INDIVDUALS SINCE 1990.
Well, that title may be a little long, but more accurate a title, nonetheless.
Someone pass this on to Pew and Princeton, please. 1-09-06
© 2005 North
Country Gazette
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