{"id":14931,"date":"2014-01-07T07:38:50","date_gmt":"2014-01-07T12:38:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/5-facts-about-americans-views-on-life-and-death-issues\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:25:39","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:25:39","slug":"5-facts-about-americans-views-on-life-and-death-issues","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2014\/01\/07\/5-facts-about-americans-views-on-life-and-death-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"5 facts about Americans\u2019 views on life-and-death issues"},"content":{"rendered":"

A 13-year-old California girl is at the center of the latest national debate about end-of-life care. Jahi McMath was pronounced brain-dead<\/a> in December following complications related to a tonsillectomy to treat sleep apnea. A legal battle between McMath\u2019s family and Children\u2019s Hospital Oakland ensued, forcing the hospital to keep the girl on a ventilator. On Sunday, citing a court order, the hospital released McMath to her family<\/a> (via the Alameda County coroner).<\/p>\n\n

In another case, in Texas, Marlise Machado Mu\u00f1oz collapsed in November and now has no brain activity. Her husband wants her taken off life support, citing her wishes, but Mu\u00f1oz was 14 weeks pregnant when she collapsed and Texas law requires expectant mothers to be kept alive<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

The two situations highlight the complicated nature of end-of-life questions. A recent Pew Research Center survey<\/a> explores Americans\u2019 views on the topic, ranging from the morality of suicide to personal preferences for end-of-life care. Here are some of the key findings:<\/p>\n\n

1 <\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

Death may not be the most comfortable topic to ponder, but 37% of Americans say they have given a great deal of thought to their own wishes for end-of-life medical treatment \u2013 up from 28% in 1990. A third (35%) say they have put their wishes in writing<\/b>. At the same time, however, about a quarter (27%) say they\u2019ve given no thought or not very much thought to their wishes.<\/p>\n\n

2 While a clear majority (66%) of U.S. adults say that there are sometimes circumstances in which doctors and nurses should allow a patient to die, nearly a third (31%) say medical professionals always should do everything possible to save a patient<\/b> \u2013 twice as many as expressed this view in 1990 (15%).<\/p>\n\n

3 <\/p>\n\n

\"FT_dying-ethnicity\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

There are substantial differences across racial and ethnic groups<\/b> when it comes to personal choices about end-of-life medical treatment. Nearly two-thirds of whites (65%) say they would stop their medical treatment if they had an incurable disease and were suffering a great deal of pain; by contrast, 61% of blacks and 55% of Hispanics say they would tell their doctors to do everything possible to save their lives in these circumstances. According to interviews by Religion News Service<\/a>, possible reasons for these differences include historic experiences, religious faith and family roles.<\/p>\n\n

4 The public is closely divided on physician-assisted suicide, with 47% in favor of laws that would allow doctor-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients and 49% opposed, <\/b>largely the same as in a 2005 Pew Research survey<\/a>. <\/b>Americans\u2019 views on whether a person has a moral right to suicide<\/a> vary based on that person\u2019s circumstances.<\/p>\n\n

5 Four states currently allow physician-assisted suicide. From when Oregon\u2019s Death With Dignity Act went into effect in late 1997 through the end of 2012, 673 patients died from lethal medications prescribed under the law<\/b><\/a> in that state. Washington has had a similar law since early 2009; through the end of 2012, at least 240 people there have died<\/b><\/a> from lethal medications<\/b>. (More than 100 other Death with Dignity Act participants in Washington died without taking the medication<\/a>.) In December 2009, the Montana Supreme Court ruled that there was nothing in state law preventing physician-assisted suicide for the terminally ill, but state officials do not keep track of such deaths. Since Vermont legalized physician-assisted suicide in May, one citizen has taken advantage of the law<\/b>, according to the state’s health department.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the morality of suicide to personal preferences for end-of-life care. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":165,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":null,"sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"relatedPosts":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[]},"categories":[165,372],"bylines":[854],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[517],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-14931","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","category-biotech","category-death-dying","bylines-michael-lipka","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states","research-teams-religion"],"label":"Short Read","post_parent":0,"word_count":540,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2014\/01\/07\/5-facts-about-americans-views-on-life-and-death-issues\/","art_direction":{"A1":{"id":27361,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/01\/end-of-life-overview-7.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/01\/end-of-life-overview-7.png?w=294&h=235&crop=1","width":294,"height":235,"chartArt":false},"A2":{"id":27361,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/01\/end-of-life-overview-7.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/01\/end-of-life-overview-7.png?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":false},"A3":{"id":27361,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/01\/end-of-life-overview-7.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/01\/end-of-life-overview-7.png?w=194&h=110&crop=1","width":194,"height":110,"chartArt":false},"A4":{"id":27361,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/01\/end-of-life-overview-7.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/01\/end-of-life-overview-7.png?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":false},"XL":{"id":27361,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/01\/end-of-life-overview-7.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/01\/end-of-life-overview-7.png?w=294&h=235&crop=1","width":294,"height":235,"chartArt":false},"social":{"id":27361,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/01\/end-of-life-overview-7.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2014\/01\/end-of-life-overview-7.png?w=294&h=235&crop=1","width":294,"height":235,"chartArt":false}},"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[],"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"5 facts about Americans\u2019 views on life-and-death issues","description":"From the morality of suicide to personal preferences for end-of-life care. 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