Choose one of the following. People who have incurable diseases who wish to commit suicide should be allowed by law to be assisted by a friend, a family member or a doctor.Euthanasia was the issue addressed in a recently published study conducted by William MacDonald, assistant professor of sociology at Ohio State’s Newark campus. Results show 52 percent of Ohioans surveyed are more likely to support physician-assisted suicides over the other alternatives. “I think people perceive that a doctor’s direct involvement will reduce the risk of a mistake,” MacDonald said. “There is a great trust in medical institutions, although there is also dissatisfaction.”MacDonald chose Ohio to conduct the survey because it “is a pretty good barometer of the country.”Since the turn of the century, more Americans die from chronic diseases than infectious diseases, MacDonald said. The rise of chronic disease mortality rates, plus the fact that today most Americans die in a hospital rather than at home surrounded by family members, has made euthanasia a issue.”As we’re more likely to die from a chronic illness, the support for voluntary euthanasia runs parallel (to death rates),” he said.Today, Oregon is the only state that allows physician-assisted suicides, MacDonald said. The Oregon Death with Dignity Act was approved by voters on Nov. 8, 1994. Washington attempted to legalize euthanasia at around the same time, but failed.Under Section 2 of the act, capable adults who express their desire to die “may make a written request for medication for the purpose of ending his or her life in a humane and dignified manner.”Voluntary-active assisted suicide, in which a doctor physically mixes a drug for a patient or gives a patient a lethal injection, is illegal in any state, MacDonald said. Ohio was the first state in the country to propose the legalization of voluntary euthanasia in 1906.MacDonald’s study was conducted in 1994. About 514 people were surveyed by phone.