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The Inevitable: Dispatches on the Right to Die
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About This Book
As much of the world's population grows older, the quest for a "good death," has become a significant issue. For many, the right to die often means the right to die with dignity. The Inevitable moves beyond margins of the law to the people who are meticulously planning their final hours--far from medical offices, legislative chambers, hospital ethics committees, and polite conversation--and the people who help them, loved ones or clandestine groups on the Internet known as the "euthanasia underground." Katie Engelhart, a veteran journalist, focuses on six people representing different aspects of the debate. Two are doctors: a California physician who runs a boutique assisted-death clinic and has written more lethal prescriptions than anyone else in the U.S.; an Australian named Philip Nitschke who lost his medical license for teaching people how to end their lives painlessly and peacefully at "DIY Death" workshops. The other four chapters belong to people who said they wanted to die because they were suffering unbearably--of old age, chronic illness, dementia, and mental anguish--and saw suicide as their only option. Spanning Australia, North America, and Europe, Engelhart presents a deeply reported portrait of everyday people struggling to make hard decisions, and wrestling back a measure of authenticity and dignity to their lives.
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Reviews
"Engelhart is a skilled storyteller."
"A must-read for anyone concerned about quality of life at the end of life."
"Like much great narrative journalism, The Inevitable powerfully justifies its form when mapping how people relate to each other outside dominant systems—in this case, how end-of-life care can exist away from, or in opposition to, big medicine ..."
"It can be disturbing, learning about the many ways people take their own lives ..."
"Evenhandedly and without undue criticism, Engelhart brings forth the counterarguments, but she offers enough convincing evidence about the efficacy and ethical standing of the right-to-die movement that many readers will be persuaded of its value to society ..."
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