profession
Physician-assisted suicide is OK, Hawaiians tell pollsters
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Jan. 30, 2012
More than three-quarters of Hawaiian voters favor allowing terminally ill patients to request physician-assisted suicide, said a poll released in January by Compassion & Choices Hawaii, which supports legal access to aid in dying.
Eight in 10 respondents said they "trust their doctors to respond appropriately to a request for medication to bring about a peaceful death if suffering became unbearable," according to the survey (link).
Compassion & Choices Hawaii has argued that state law allows doctors to participate in assisted suicide. In December 2011, state Attorney General David M. Louie issued an opinion saying that charges could be brought under Hawaii's manslaughter statute. The Hawaii Medical Assn., like the American Medical Association, has policy saying physician-assisted suicide is unethical and should remain illegal.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/01/30/prbf0130.htm.
