ELDR magazine and ELDR.com today released the results of a national survey on the "right to die" issue or what some call "physician-assisted suicide." It reveals that over 80% of adults say the right to die is a personal decision, not that of government or religion; that two-thirds want physician-assisted right to die legal, as in Oregon; that half of U.S adults could eventually face a right to die caretaker role for a loved one; and that only half of adults over 60 have a living will or health care directive.
San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) May 15, 2008 -- ELDR magazine and ELDR.com today released the results of a national survey of adults on the "right to die" issue or what some call "physician-assisted suicide." The survey showed that over 80 percent believe the choice to end one's life is a personal decision, with two-thirds of adults saying they want physician-assisted "death with dignity" legal, as in Oregon.
The ELDR Magazine "Right To Die" National Survey, conducted by Knowledge Networks and statistically projectable to the U.S. adult population, also revealed that only half of adults over 60 have a living will or advance health care directive. These legal documents specify what a person's wishes are if, for example, they are in a persistent vegetative state. Such a document could have prevented the prolonged and agonizing situation the family of Florida woman Terri Schiavo endured.........
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The problem the group faces is obvious: In recent history, a subset of Christians often defined as "evangelicals" has striven and then achieved extraordinary political power, and their acts and history have come to define the word's very meaning.
The seeds were planted by the Christian Coalition and the Moral Majority, two groups that were cultivated during the Clinton Administration (which pandered to and used to its advantage evangelical Christians as well as other religious groups). Then, those seeds burst into full flower under the favorable sun of the Bush Administration. Outside the evangelicals' own universe, they were best known for their grasping and manipulation of national political power.
At no time was their power more apparent than the weekend when Congress reconvened and the President returned to Washington solely to enact the Terri Schiavo law, which I have discussed in a prior column. The law itself did not fulfill their dreams of controlling the country's debate over the morality of end-of-life care, but it did show their hand in a way guaranteed to swing the pendulum against them. (There is nothing Americans like less than seeing any one interest in control of their government, and religious organizations and coalitions are no exception.)......
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