Views of Disabled People Regarding Legalized Assisted Suicide Before and After a Balanced Informational Presentation

Abstract

A questionnaire on views regarding legalized assisted suicide was administered to 29 individuals with disabilities (12 participants with various disabilities; 17 participants with multiple sclerosis) before and after their exposure to a “pro” versus “con” informational presentation focusing on disability and assisted suicide. Results indicated that participants who expressed neutrality before the presentation were more likely than participants who had a predetermined position (either opposing or supporting legalization) to change their responses from pretest to posttest. Changes in views, when they occurred, tended toward opposition to legalized assisted suicide. Following the presentations, participants were fairly evenly divided in their endorsement versus opposition to legalized assisted suicide for terminally ill people. Most were opposed, however, to the legalization of assisted suicide for persons with incurable disabilities. Race/ethnicity and gender of participant were important factors, in that women, African Americans, and Latinos were least likely to support assisted suicide. The majority of participants indicated that legalized assisted suicide could lead to involuntary deaths and that safeguards would not prevent abuse. It was concluded that balanced disability-relevant information had a mild effect on attitudes in this study, and that differing levels of knowledge may account for some of the differences in views held by disabled people regarding legalized assisted suicide.