WASHINGTON — An overwhelming majority of white Catholics and Protestants support laws endorsing the right of terminally ill patients to decide whether medical care should keep them alive, a new study by the Pew Research Center has found.
Ninety-one percent of white Catholics and 84 percent of white Protestants support legislation that would allow a patient or his closest family member to decide if medical action should be taken to prolong the patient’s life, according to the study released Jan. 5. The poll results come less than a year after the Terri Schiavo case sparked end-of-life debates across the nation, with many growing angry when government and medical officials attempted to intervene.
Since a similar poll in 1990, the percentage of individuals believing the patient and family should control their own medical destiny jumped by 11 points for white Catholics and 4 percentage points for white Protestants.
The survey did not provide breakdowns for other ethnic groups within religions. The poll also found nearly three in 10 Americans (29 percent) now have a living will, and nearly seven in 10 (69 percent) have spoken to their spouse about their wishes for end-of-life medical care, up from 51 percent in 1990.
The nationwide study was conducted Nov. 9–27, 2005, sampling 1,500 adults with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.
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