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Jake Henshaw and Colin Atagi
The Desert Sun
March 15, 2006 March 15, 2006
As the debate over assisted suicide heats up in the Capitol, Californians strongly support the option for terminally ill cases, a new poll shows.
The Field Poll being released today found that 70 percent of adults and 69 percent of registered voters believe that incurably ill patients should have the choice of seeking and getting life-ending medication.
Most Californians also said they would personally want this option and endorsed state legislation to legalize it. Oregon has a similar law.
"This shows that even though anti-choice groups are out there trying to scare people about this bill, support remains steady, and that is very encouraging," said Patty Berg, D-Eureka, a co-author of Assembly Bill 651 to legalize what she called compassionate choices.
But Dr. Philip Dreisbach, a Palm Springs board-certified oncologist, strongly criticized the legislative effort as a violation of the doctors' Hippocratic Oath that, among other things, commits physicians to "do no harm."
"So-called physician-assisted suicide is an outright lie," Dreisbach said. ''It is physician-facilitated homicide. It is presently criminal and should remain that way."
As a practical matter, he said the quality of care and pain management for terminally ill patients and support for their families provided by hospices make such extreme steps unnecessary.
"The good practices of hospices that we work with make it stupid" to legalize physician-aided suicide, he added.
The proposal to legalize such suicide assistance also stirred sharply different views in the community.
"I think we do it for animals to be humane, so why not for people?" said Brenda Bravo, 40, La Quinta, who's seen family members in ill conditions.
"Personally, I disagree," with the proposal, said Glenn Manley, 49, La Quinta. "It's a touchy subject because it's almost like playing God. Pulling the plug out would be OK, but not assisting someone with suicide."
In eight surveys since 1979, the Field Poll has found support for doctor-assisted suicide ranging between 64 percent and 75 percent. The Field Poll is an independent, nonpartisan survey of public opinion owned and operated by Field Research Corp. of San Francisco
The latest Field Poll was conducted Feb. 12-26 among 500 California adults, including 337 registered voters. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.5 percent.
Oregon law nearly decade old
In 1997, after legal battles and two general votes, Oregon became the only state to allow doctor-assisted suicide.
Since then, 246 Oregonians have used the law to end their lives.
AB 651 would allow a California resident who is mentally competent and terminally ill with six months or less to live to obtain and use prescriptions to end their life.
The poll found the closest divisions on the question of whether AB 651 should be enacted.
For example, 70 percent of adults support the right of terminally ill patients to get prescriptions to end their life and 23 percent opposed it.
But when ask about whether legislation should be passed to legalize this option, 57 percent said yes and 34 percent said no.
Latinos actually shifted from majority support of the concept of assisted suicide to opposing legislation to allow it.
Latinos, by 65 percent to 31 percent, supported the concept, but only 42 percent supported legislation while 50 percent opposed it.
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