Old age rational suicide

A poll of Brighton & Hove adults

22 February 2010
 Nearly half have heard of “Living Wills”
2

All 47%

18-24 15%
25-34 29%
35-44 59%
45-54 59%
55-64 65%
65+ 54%

Male 44%
Female 50%

Q7 Have you ever heard of a document called a “Living Will” also known as an "Advance Decision"?
Base: All adults (1000)
 Awareness of Living Wills rises to over half of adults
when they are explained in more detail
3

All 56%

18-24 29%
25-34 40%
35-44 65%
45-54 66%
55-64 79%
65+ 60%

Male 52%
Female 60%

Q8. To be absolutely clear, a person's Living Will states what medical treatment they would like if they became terminally ill or severely
disabled and they weren't able to communicate. Have you ever heard of that?
Base: All adults (1000)
 8% claim to have a Living Will
(rising to 15% of those aged 65+)
4

All 8%

18-24 0%
25-34 4%
35-44 7%
45-54 3%
55-64 10%
65+ 15%

Male 10%
Female 7%

Q.9 Do you have a Living Will stating what medical treatment you would like if you weren't able to communicate with a doctor?
Base: All adults (1000)
 Just 14% know of friends or family who have living wills
(which suggests these are private decisions)
5

All 14%

18-24 15%
25-34 15%
35-44 15%
45-54 12%
55-64 14%
65+ 15%

Male 14%
Female 14%

Q.10 Have any of your friends or members of your family got a Living Will?
Base: All adults who have heard of Living Wills (602)
 Nearly half would be very or quite likely to write a
Living Will assuming it was easy to do
6

Don't know, 6%
Very likely, 17%
Not at all likely,
18%

Quite likely, 30%

Not very likely,

29%

Q11. Assuming it was easy to do, how likely would you be to write a Living Will?
Base: All adults who do not have a Living Will (950)
 Women and those aged 25-44 are most likely to write a
Living Will
7

All 17% 30%

18-24 16% 28%

25-34 19% 33%
35-44 17% 34%
45-54 16% 29%
55-64 17% 28%
65+ 15% 25%

Male 16% 25%

Female 17% 34%

Very likely Quite likely

Q11. Assuming it was easy to do, how likely would you be to write a Living Will?
Base: All adults who do not have a Living Will (950)
 The vast majority agree that assisted suicide should be legal,
particularly in the event of terminal illness
8
A mentally competent adult should be legally allowed to receive a doctor’s assistance to die in the event of...

Terminal illness 47% 29% 12% 5% 7%

Old age 35% 32% 15% 10% 8%

Strongly agree Tend to agree Neither Tend to disagree Strongly disagree

Q.12 How much do you agree or disagree with the following two statements?
A mentally competent adult should be legally allowed to receive a doctor's assistance to die if...
... They are suffering unbearably from a terminal illness they are expected to die from within six months
... They are very elderly and suffering unbearably from a variety of serious health problems that they will not die from, if this is their persistent request
Base: All adults (1000)
 Support for legal assistance to die in the event of terminal illness
slightly higher among the 25-44 year olds
9

All 47% 29%

18-24 44% 37%

25-34 45% 30%
35-44 55% 25%
45-54 54% 27%
55-64 42% 33%
65+ 43% 25%

Male 48% 29%

Female 47% 28%

Strongly agree Tend to agree

Q.12 How much do you agree or disagree with the following two statements?
A mentally competent adult should be legally allowed to receive a doctor's assistance to die if...
... They are suffering unbearably from a terminal illness they are expected to die from within six months
Base: All adults (1000)
 Support for legal assistance to die in the event of old age when someone is
suffering unbearably, tends to have broader support among younger people
10

All 35% 32%

18-24 32% 42%

25-34 33% 34%
35-44 41% 30%
45-54 35% 32%
55-64 36% 30%
65+ 34% 27%

Male 37% 32%

Female 33% 32%

Strongly agree Tend to agree

Q.12 How much do you agree or disagree with the following two statements?
A mentally competent adult should be legally allowed to receive a doctor's assistance to die if...
... They are very elderly and suffering unbearably from a variety of serious health problems that they will not die from, if this is their persistent request
Base: All adults (1000)
 Technical note
11

• A total of 1,000 interviews were completed between 8-14 February with adults aged 18+
permanently resident in the city of Brighton and Hove
• Interviews were conducted by telephone and the data was collected by ICM Direct
• Quotas were set by age, gender and working status within each constituency according to the
2001 census and then weighted to achieve a representative sample within each constituency
• The research was commissioned by the Society for Old Age Rational Suicide
• Any reporting of poll findings needs to include the details of this technical note and credit
Kindle Research and the Society for Old Age Rational Suicide