More Americans Claim Doctors Should Do Everything they can to Save Lives

A growing minority of Americans believe that doctors should do everything to save the lives of patients, a Pew study finds.

Researchers from the Pew Research Center surveyed nearly 2,000 adults and found that a growing number of Americans believe that doctors should save their patient's life, no matter what. This means that they prefer doctors to perform everything they can than just simply allow their patients to die. Also a growing number of people say that even if they are suffering from an incurable disease and are in severe pain, they would still not ask their doctors to stop treatment.

This surge in attitudes surprised bioethicists who want both doctors and families to carefully weigh aggressive medical treatments for patients near death. They stressed that invasive procedures may not necessarily lengthen or improve lives for those who are suffering from chronic conditions. Such procedures may also surge up healthcare costs. As physicians, "we commonly find ourselves doing aggressive care at the request of patients and families and shaking our heads when we walk away, wondering whether we're doing the right thing," said Paul L. Schneider, president of Southern California Bioethics Committee Consortium. "This points to a growing gap between where the public is and where many doctors are."

The Pew study found two out of three people believe there are some instances wherein a patient should be allowed to die. However, still a percentage of Americans say physicians should do everything they can to save lives has doubled since 1999, rising from 15 percent to 31 percent. Researchers also found the number of Americans who said they wouldn't stop their doctors from providing treatments even if there is no hope for improvement increased from 28 percent to 35 percent.