Medicine: Question

The law holds euthanasia (putting an incurable patient to death) to be murder. Supporters of euthanasia, including many doctors and a few clergymen, are aware that the law must be changed before euthanasia can ever be legal. To find out what the U.S. public thought, Gallup pollsters asked the question: "When a person has a disease that cannot be cured, do you think doctors should be allowed by law to end the patient's life by some painless means if the patient and his family request it?"

Answer: yes, 37%; no, 54%; no opinion, 9%. Youngsters were less shocked at the idea than...

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