The terminology used in this polling was “assisted suicide”, and the survey found that a lower percentage (60%) supported AD/AS when a doctor administered the life-ending drugs. A majority of those surveyed (56%) voiced fears that legalising AD/AS would lead to a culture where suicide becomes more normalised than it is at present. This figure climbed to 67% when those who answered “don’t know” were left out.

Responses to assisted dying polling vary depending on terminology

The specific language used in polls and surveys clearly skews results, and some worry that the language used in the assisted dying debate has been misleading. In a new paper, the director of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre, Professor David Albert Jones, writes that there is “widespread confusion with surveys showing between 39% and 42% of people think that ‘assisted dying’ refers to withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment”. In addition, a new Focaldata poll for the anti-assisted dying lobby group Care Not Killing found that when those surveyed were presented with 10 arguments against AD/AS, support dropped to 11%.

Focaldata polling in October at King’s College London used the “assisted dying” terminology. It found that around two-thirds (63%) of people in England and Wales say they want the current parliament to make assisted dying legal for terminally ill adults. However, even if they are broadly supportive of its legalisation, three in five (61%) say they would be concerned about some people being pressured into an assisted death if the law were changed.

In September, a survey of British Medical Association (BMA) members used the terms “end their own life” or “ending of an eligible patient’s life”, and found less support for AD/AS. When asked “Do you personally support or oppose a change in the law on prescribing drugs for eligible patients to self-administer to end their own life?” 50% supported it, with 39% opposed. When asked whether the BMA should reconsider its official position to support a change in the law to prescribe self-administered life-ending drugs, only 40% were supportive. When members were asked if they would “be willing to participate in any way in the process if the law changed on prescribing drugs for eligible patients to self-administer to end their own life”, 45% said no, 36% said yes and 19% were undecided. Notably, members who worked in geriatric medicine and palliative care were more likely to be opposed.

The current quality of the UK’s end-of-life care has featured prominently in the assisted dying debate. In the Living and Dying Well poll — which used the term “assisted suicide” — those surveyed said they feared legalising it would jeopardise necessary funding for improved palliative care by 41% to 29%. In the most high-profile intervention yet, former prime minister Gordon Brown weighed in on the issue last week in an op-ed for The Guardian. He said that improving palliative care, rather than helping people end their lives, should be the Government’s priority: “We need to show we can do better at assisted living before deciding whether to legislate on ways to die.”

---

Max Mitchell is UnHerd’s Assistant Editor, Newsroom.

MaxJMitchell1

---