Euthanasia is Not the Answer: A Hospice Physician's View

by David Cundiff

Overview

Instances of euthanasia or mercy killing date back to antiquity. However, it is only recently that the unprecedented grassroots efforts to legalize euthana­ sia have begun building. "Terminal Illness, Assistance with Dying," a California ballot initiative for the No­ vember 1992 election, might for the first time in modem history legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide by physicians. Similar initiatives are planned in other states. To vote intelligently, citizens in California and throughout the United States need to learn who is likely to request euthanasia or assisted suicide, and why. How we care for the terminally ill eventually af­ fects us all. In over half of all deaths, a chronic dis­ ease process such as cancer or congestive heart failure leads to a terminal phase that may last for days, weeks, or months. Most people are more afraid of the suffering associated with this terminal phase than they are afraid of dying itself. When polled, most Americans tell us they would prefer to die at home, surrounded by loved ones, rather than in a hospital receiving high-tech tests and treatments until the last. Yet the majority of people, even those with term­ inal illnesses, die in the hospital. What factors in our culture and health care system have led to this dichotomy? Unrelieved suffering is also the primary reason for euthanasia requests.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780896032378
Publisher:	Springer-Verlag New York, LLC
Publication date:	07/17/1992
Edition description:	1992
Pages:	190
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.02(d)

Table of Contents

1 • What Euthanasia Is—What Hospice Is.- 2 • Why—and How Often—Do Terminally Ill People Request Euthanasia?.- 3 • Patients Who Have Requested Euthanasia.- 4 • The Right to Die.- 5 • Traditional Arguments Against Euthanasia.- 6 • Efforts to Legalize Euthanasia.- 7 • Euthanasia in the Netherlands.- 8 • On Pain and Living.- 9 • Hospice Care and Standard Oncology.- 10 • Integrating Life-Prolonging Therapy and Hospice.- Appendices.- References.

Editorial Reviews

Very well-written, easy-to-read and understand and full of thought-provoking information...an excellent choice....-Library Journal

From the Publisher

Cundiff's answer consists, especially for terminal cancer and AIDS patients, of better pain-control education for physicians and other health-care providers, and the promotion, expansion, and improvement of the U.S. hospice program. (The British hospice movement will serve as a good model in its physical, psychological, social, and spiritual aspects, Cundiff says.) He emphasizes the financial disincentives for hospice programs in the U.S. and shows how important in keeping many hospitals afloat are the current excessive costs for terminal care. He destroys myths about the use of opioids and points out that heroic, last-ditch treatment may be avoided by a living will and a durable power of attorney. Patients do not ask for euthanasia, he says, if their pain is controlled and if they are able to spend their last weeks in friendly, dignified surroundings. Indeed, he cites some patients who had requested euthanasia but had instead been given better pain control and then lived out their lives in a pleasant and productive manner. (He does not cite any who were less fortunate.) A book worthy of wide reading and discussion.

William Beatty