A new national poll caried out on behalf of an organisation opposed the legalisation of assisted dying has confirmed national support for assisted dying, despite posing some fundamentally misleading questions.
A poll of 2001 UK residents found 60% support for assisted dying in practice. Majority support is carried across all social groups, all mainstream political stances and all but one age cohort. This result confirms previous research by IPSOS Mori (Two-thirds of Britons support legalising assisted dying, poll shows | Assisted dying | The Guardian), which has found consistent broad support for assisted dying in the UK.
However, the poll which was carried out on behalf of Living and Dying Well, a research and campaign group which opposes assisted dying, presented respondents with false information and misleading statements relating to existed or proposed assisted dying measures.
Friends at the End are concerned that,
1. In a question purporting to outline the assisted dying model proposed for Scotland through Liam McArthur’s Members Bill, is it falsely stated that people with a range of non-terminal medical conditions would be able to access assisted dying. This is at odds with both the bill as planned, as well as evidence submitted to the Scottish Parliament’s Health Committee by FATE and other leading assisted dying organisations.
2. Another question falsely claims that eligibility for assisted dying has been expanded in every jurisdiction where it has been legalised, when such changes are rare. Statistics relating to assisted dying in Oregon are also presented poorly, overlooking that while assisted dying has increased over the last decade, it remains the cause of death in only 0.6% of cases in that state.
3. A further question, suggesting that all those who made use of assisted dying in Canada had “many years of life left”, an opinion which is uninformed by medical evidence.
It is disappointing that a poll so clearly loaded against assisted dying has been presented as unbiased in the wider media. However, the fact that even with biased and leading questions, the poll reaffirms overall support for assisted dying in the mould of Liam McArthur’s bill is to be welcomed.
For further comment on this, please contact Friends at the End either at
info@fate.scot or 07871689225
