San Antonio College Library

Dr. McKhann presents the case for rational suicide, comparing a failed suicide attempt in the United States with a planned death in the Netherlands and illustrating the differences in approach and attitudes. He describes the forms of physician assistance already taking place and acknowledges the physician's personal and professional concerns. And he reflects on relevant religious, moral, legal, and public-policy issues that are currently so widely...

Understanding Assisted Suicide provides both a fresh take on this important topic and the context of intelligent participation in the discussion. Uniquely, John Mitchell frames the issue using his own experience of watching both his parents die, which led him to ask fundamental questions about death, dying, religion, and the role of medicine and technology in alleviating human suffering.

Advances in medical treatment now enable physicians to prolong life to a previously unknown extent, however in many instances these new techniques mean not the saving of life but prolonging the act of dying. In the eyes of many, medical technology has run out of control and contributes to unnecessary suffering. Hence the demand has arisen that patients should be entitled to choose death when pain and physical and mental deterioration have destroyed...

"Dr. Timothy Quill put his career in danger when he wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine that he had assisted a terminally ill patient in suicide - at her request - by prescribing pills and letting her know how to take a lethal dose. He had treated "Diane" for many years, had seen her through other serious illnesses, and had responded to her desire to leave this world with her dignity still intact." "But "Diane's" story was not unique. Dr....

This volume on the ethical justifiability of assisted dying goes beyond traditional debates on topics such as the value of human life and questions surrounding intention and causation. Essays reconsider the role of patient autonomy and paternalistic reasons as well as the roles proposed for medical professionals and clinical ethics consultations in connection with assisted dying; relates the debate on assisted dying to questions about organ donation...

"Death on Demand explores the polarizing role of Jack Kevorkian - "Dr. Death"--As the most visible leader of the right-to-die movement. From a feature on the cover of Time magazine to interviews on shows like 60 Minutes, Kevorkian was a high-profile figure in the right-to-die movement, capturing constant media attention as he helped more than one hundred people kill themselves. / The book opens with the death of Janet Adkins in 1990 - Kevorkian's...

Authors offer various opinions on how end-of-life care should be improved, how people can best cope with death and grief, and whether or not the human life span should be extended.

This work is a sequel to the author's 1994 volume The Least Worst Death. The last ten years have seen fast-moving developments in end-of-life issues, from the legalization of physician-assisted suicide in Oregon and the Netherlands to furor over proposed restrictions of scheduled drugs used for causing death, and the development of "NuTech" methods of assistance in dying. This new collection covers a remarkably wide range of end-of-life topics, including...

"Ethical and legal issues concerning physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia are very much on the public agenda in many jurisdictions. In this timely book L.W. Sumner addresses these issues within the wider context of palliative care for patients in the dying process. His ethical conclusion is that a bright line between assisted death and other widely accepted end-of-life practices, including the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment, pain control...

Presents a collection of essays that examine euthanasia from a number of different perspectives.