The Right to die: Healthcare Workers’ Attitudes Compared With a National Public Poll

Attitudes toward the right to die were investigated for hospital nurses & findings compared with a national poll. Both the general public & health-care workers endorse an individual’s right to self-determination. Nurses reported significant disagreement that staff often disregard patient’s instructions to withhold life-sustaining treatment, that the killing of a spouse in pain can be justified & people have a moral right to end their own lives if they have become a burden or life is a burden.