Americans believe in “The right to die”: Should the dying be able to end their lives?

Some demonstrate for this right

I recently watched a legal show from the past in which a physician was placed on trial for increasing the dosage of a pain medication that resulted in a patient’s death. It was from about 30 years ago, but the issue is even more at the fore of discussion that it was years ago.

Almost a dozen states have passed legislation that will allow people to terminate their lives when pain from a deadly disease is wracking their existence.

A recent poll notes that more than half of Americans believe that people who are suffering should have that right.

Pew research survey

The poll was taken by Pew last year, and it shows a very strong belief in people’s right to die, something that has been controversial for many years.

Illinois and New York recently joined 11 other states and the District of Columbia in allowing people with serious illnesses to end their lives with a doctor’s help. While most states still ban physician-assisted death, a majority of Americans see the practice as morally permissible or don’t consider it a moral issue, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey.

About six-in-ten Americans say that patients choosing to end their lives with the help of a doctor is either morally acceptable (34%) or not a moral issue (29%). Another 35% say it’s morally wrong, according to the survey, which was conducted in spring 2025.

“About 6 in 10 Americans don’t have moral objections to medical

aid in dying,” SSRS, March 30, 2026

This has often been called physician-assisted suicide, which is negative because of the word “suicide,” which has negative connotations.

Physician-assisted death has been hotly debated in the United States since at least the 1990s, when Oregon passed the country’s first “Death with Dignity” bill. The practice aims to grant terminally ill patients more control over suffering at the end of life, though it has often raised questions around consent and eligibility. Some religious leaders also have condemned it as immoral or unethical.

Our latest survey data shows that most U.S. Jews (76%) and White nonevangelical Protestants (74%) see the practice as morally permissible, as do a majority of Catholics (59%), even though Catholic doctrine prohibits medical assistance in dying.

The vast majority of religiously unaffiliated adults, including 95% of atheists and 93% of agnostics, express no moral opposition to the practice.

On the other hand, 60% of White evangelical Protestants and 52% of Black Protestants say it’s morally wrong for patients to end their lives with medical aid.

Rebecca Leppert, “About 6 in 10 Americans don’t have moral objections to medical aid in dying,” Pew Research Center, May 6, 2025

Opposition to cancer treatments

This goes along with the views of many people who oppose the use of chemotherapy to supposedly cure cancer — when it really just delays the inevitable. A recent survey of physicians indicated that more than 88 percent of them would refuse chemotherapy for themselves. Many people are seeking alternative therapies,

Statistics, too, show chemotherapy alternatives are growing in popularity. Among North American cancer patients, alternative medicine use has been rising since 2000 as a complementary tactic to Western therapies, reports the National Institutes of Health. It’s particularly popular among survivors of melanoma, breast, and colorectal cancer.

Bill Briggs, “Alternative reality: Patients who spurn chemo for natural

remedies,” Fred Hutch Cancer Center, May 27, 2016

That was written about ten years ago, but the numbers have increased significantly. Obviously, oncologists disagree. However, the idea of allowing physicians to increase medication to allow people to die is increasing significantly.

If eleven states and D.C. have allowed this to occur, that number is likely to grow because of compassion. When I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, chemo was not an option, so I went with radiation. However, if chemo had been an option, I would have refused. Chemo seldom cures cancer. As one cancer research organization noted,

In many cases, especially with advanced or metastatic disease, it is used for palliation to shrink tumors and manage symptoms rather than provide a total cure.

Cancer Research UK

This debate is likely to become even more intense over the next decade.

Personally, I have seen people close to me suffer more from the chemo than the disesease itself, and I will never use it.