Cultural Attitudes toward Assisted Death
             Assisted death has been a hot topic in the U.S over the years and studies are being done to see what different cultures think about it and how they feel toward it. Assisted death deals with a doctor the administering a drug or lethal dose to a person upon their request. Research has suggested that support for PAS (physicianassisted suicide) vary by ethnicity and that these variations may be associated with the cultural values and sociohistorical experiences that influenced their attitudes toward planned deaths.
             Individual behavior is mostly influenced by attitudes, which is defined as," relatively enduring organizations of interrelated beliefs that describe, evaluate, and advocate reaction to a situation (Braun)." Each individual's actions are based out of cultural, religious, and social influences.
             In 1995 a study in Honolulu, Hawaii involved people from four different ethnic groups such as Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, and Hawaiian. When asked each ethnic group about planned death all had different views due to their varying cultural and religious traditions. Chinese showed no interest and discomfort to even talk about death believing in their culture that bad luck would be cast upon them. Old Filipino immigrants believed that it was completely wrong and would go against god's commandments and show distrust for god's plan of life, yet the younger Filipino's interviewed took a liking to ending a person's suffering. Japanese had a strict prejudice against it due to a concept from their religion; shikata ga nai (let things proceed naturally or it cannot be helped). Hawaiians showed distrust toward the government and health care system, thinking that legalizing this may result in poor economic condition for their group. Due to this study, the end of life behaviors are influ!
             enced by ethnic membership, religious values, education, and experiences that...