The Case against Assisted Suicide: For the Right to End-of-Life Care / Edition 1

by Kathleen M. Foley MD, Herbert Hendin MD

Overview

In The Case against Assisted Suicide: For the Right to End-of-Life Care, Dr. Kathleen Foley and Dr. Herbert Hendin uncover why pleas for patient autonomy and compassion, often used in favor of legalizing euthanasia, do not advance or protect the rights of terminally ill patients. Incisive essays by authorities in the fields of medicine, law, and bioethics draw on studies done in the Netherlands, Oregon, and Australia by the editors and contributors that show the dangers that legalization of assisted suicide would pose to the most vulnerable patients. Thoughtful and persuasive, this book urges the medical profession to improve palliative care and develop a more humane response to the complex issues facing those who are terminally ill.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801879012
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	04/29/2004
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.85(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Kathleen Foley, M.D., is professor of neurology at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University and director of the Project on Death in America of the Open Society Institute and Soros Foundation.

Herbert Hendin, M.D., is professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at New York Medical College and medical director of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgements
List of Contributors
Introduction: A Medical, Ethical, Legal, and Psychosocial Perspective
Part I: Autonomy, Compassion, and Rational Suicide
Chapter 1. "I Will Give No Deadly Drug": Why Doctors Must Not Kill
Chapter 2. Compassion Is Not Enough
Chapter 3. Reason, Self-determination, and Physician-Assisted Suicide
Chapter 4. The Rise and Fall of the "Right" to Assisted Suicide
Part II: Practice Versus Theory
Chapter 5. The Dutch Experience
Chapter 6. Palliative Care and Euthanasia in the Netherlands: Observations of a Dutch Physician
Chapter 7. The Oregon Experiment
Chapter 8. Oregon's Culture of Silence
Chapter 9. Deadly Days in Darwin
Part III: Reason To Be Concerned
Chapter 10. Not Dead Yet
Chapter 11. Vulnerable People: Practical Rejoinders to Claims in Favor of Assisted Suicide
Chapter 12. Depression and the Will to Live in the Psychological Landscape of Terminally Ill Patients
Part IV: A Better Way
Chapter 13. A Hospice Perspective
Chapter 14. Compassionate Care, Not Assisted Suicide
Conclusion: Changing the Culture
Notes
Index

What People are Saying About This

Robert Butler

This exceptionally well-conceived book should be required reading for everyone concerned about end-of-life care in America.

Paul R. McHugh

This book is captivating and original. Because it is solidly data based it avoids the emotional arguments pressed on either side of this debate and presents a set of judgments derived from observation rather than emotion.

Editorial Reviews

The writing is of uniformly high quality, and the book achieves stylistic consistency while still reflecting an individual voice in each chapter. The book is sorely needed.
—Jeffrey M. Lyness, New England Journal of Medicine

The methods of palliative care, or comfort care, have in the past few decades reached a level of effectiveness such that suffering thought at first to be intractable can almost always be relieved. And this is the ultimate message of this vastly important book that now makes its timely appearance.
—Sherwin B. Nuland, M.D., New Republic

A major contribution to our understanding of the practice, theory, and limitations of assisted suicide and euthanasia in seriously ill patients. The book is superbly written and intellectually challenging. I am convinced that it will become standard reading for all—whether advocates or opponents of assisted suicide—who want to think more deeply and learn more about what we need to do to improve end-of-life care.
—The Lancet

The book is timely and important in the life and death debate that is of personal relevance to us all.
—Review of Disability Studies

This excellent book will be a valuable resource for anybody interested in the delivery of better end-of-life care, whether they are clinicians, ethicists, or health care policymakerrs.
—International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care

Foley, Hendin, and their contributors have produced a truly outstanding resource.
—Cambridge Law Journal

Brings together some well known and respected players in the debate, whose contributions lend considerable weight to the case . . . A thought-provoking and comprehensive look at the case against assisted suicide.
—Bulletin of Medical Ethics

Provides a comprehensive, persuasively argued case against assisted suicide.
—Tony O'Brien, Metapsychology

From the Publisher

The methods of palliative care, or comfort care, have in the past few decades reached a level of effectiveness such that suffering thought at first to be intractable can almost always be relieved. And this is the ultimate message of this vastly important book that now makes its timely appearance.

New Republic - Sherwin B. Nuland

Brings together some well known and respected players in the debate, whose contributions lend considerable weight to the case . . . A thought-provoking and comprehensive look at the case against assisted suicide.

Bulletin of Medical Ethics

The book is timely and important in the life and death debate that is of personal relevance to us all.

Review of Disability Studies

Provides a comprehensive, persuasively argued case against assisted suicide.

Metapsychology - Tony O'Brien

A major contribution to our understanding of the practice, theory, and limitations of assisted suicide and euthanasia in seriously ill patients. The book is superbly written and intellectually challenging. I am convinced that it will become standard reading for all—whether advocates or opponents of assisted suicide—who want to think more deeply and learn more about what we need to do to improve end-of-life care.

The Lancet

This excellent book will be a valuable resource for anybody interested in the delivery of better end-of-life care, whether they are clinicians, ethicists, or health care policymakerrs.

International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care

The writing is of uniformly high quality, and the book achieves stylistic consistency while still reflecting an individual voice in each chapter. The book is sorely needed.

New England Journal of Medicine - Jeffrey M. Lyness

Foley, Hendin, and their contributors have produced a truly outstanding resource.

Cambridge Law Journal

Provides a comprehensive, persuasively argued case against assisted suicide.

— Tony O'Brien

Metapsychology

The methods of palliative care, or comfort care, have in the past few decades reached a level of effectiveness such that suffering thought at first to be intractable can almost always be relieved. And this is the ultimate message of this vastly important book that now makes its timely appearance.

— Sherwin B. Nuland, M.D.

New Republic

The writing is of uniformly high quality, and the book achieves stylistic consistency while still reflecting an individual voice in each chapter. The book is sorely needed.

— Jeffrey M. Lyness

New England Journal of Medicine

3 Stars from Doody

Two physicians introduce 14 arguments by authorities in the fields of medicine, bioethics, and law against the controversial issue of physician-assisted suicide as in "the Oregon experiment." Some contributors link the legalization risks to vulnerable populations with Nazi euthanasia. Others contend that the hospice and better palliative care movements obviate the need for an option they consider counter to Western values. Foley (neurology, Cornell U.) is affiliated with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Hendin (psychiatry and behavioral sciences, New York Medical College) is with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

Reviewer: Becky Stepp, BBA, MEd, BS, M, LMSW (Seton Medical Center)
Description: This is an in-depth analysis of the practice of assisted suicide where it is legally sanctioned. The authors argue thoughtfully against the social policy of physician-assisted suicide. The book notes that supporters of this legislation fail to address the actual situations of terminally ill patients, thereby offering a poor standard of medical care to this vulnerable population.
Purpose: This book advances an open and tolerant discussion to address how we as a society can provide better healthcare and social support to a vulnerable and suffering population.
Audience: According to the authors, and I would agree, this book is targeted to those taking medical ethics courses, physicians, lawyers, clinicians, ethicists, healthcare professionals, social workers, healthcare policy experts, hospice and palliative care professionls. It is appropriate for the graduate and continuing education levels. The authors lend a credible authority to the subject matter of this book, due to the host of experience and multidisciplinary approach brought by each author.
Features: This is a compilation of several authors including ethicists, lawyers, clinicians, and healthcare policy experts who formatted their chapters to reflect a coherent discussion of the physician-assisted suicide debate. The book covers its subject through a multidisciplinary approach: medical, ethical, legal, and psychosocial perspectives. It raises the issues of autonomy and compassion — practice versus theory — and it thoughtfully and persuasively considers the reason to be concerned and offers a better way to respond to the complex issues facing terminally ill patients.
Assessment: This is an original and unique presentation of the public health issue of the care of the seriously ill and dying. It is an unprecedented approach to this discussion and advocates for a strong social commitment to both respecting the individuality and dignity of dying patients and their families, while providing them with real choices for real care at the end of life.

Doody's Review Service