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New study shows state doctors, citizens support assisted suicide

By Alice Robinson
Daily Staff Reporter

In a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine today, a majority of Michigan citizens and doctors said they oppose a ban on physician-assisted suicide.

The study, conducted by University research scientist Jerald Bachman and his colleagues, asked respondents whether the Michigan Legislature should ban all physician-assisted suicide or legalize it under a number of conditions.

The other participating researchers were Kirsten Alcser, David Doukas, Richard Lichenstein and Amy Corning, all of the Institute for Social Research.

"Clearly the issue of assisted suicide was on the table in Michigan because of (Dr. Jack) Kevorkian," Lichtenstein said. "What we were trying to do was develop reasonably good information on what citizens and physicians thought."

When participants were asked to choose between allowing physician-assisted suicide and a complete ban, 56 percent of physicians and 60 percent of the general public supported legalization of assisted suicide. Thirty-seven percent of physicians and 26 percent of the public supported a ban.

"Physicians are often found to be much more strongly opposed," Bachman said. "(In pop-quiz polls, they often) wind up calling people on the phone and asking for immediate reactions to complex issues." He said researchers included literature with the mail surveys so that the participants would be well-informed.

Mail responses were collected in 1994 and 1995 from 1,119 physicians and 998 members of the general public. "The mail questionnaires produced over 70-percent response rates," Bachman said.

Lichtenstein is also affiliated with the School of Public Health, and Doukas is a member of the University Medical School Department of Family Practice. Another co-investigator, Howard Brody of Michigan State University, is a professor of family practice and former chair of the Michigan Commission on Death and Dying.