Review by Choice Review
Cohen (Univ. of Massachusetts) provides detailed stories of persons who have determined for themselves the circumstances in which they would die. He also discusses death-hastening methods and describes the experience of selected friends and family. Also included are interviews with notable activists, for example Jack Kevorkian, Derek Humphrey (Hemlock Society), Larry Egbert (Final Exit Network), and Brittany Maynard (a terminally ill 29-year-old who moved from California to Oregon to die on her own terms). Most narratives represent US persons and organizations, but Cohen also covers a biennial conference of the World Federation of Right To Die Societies, among others, and discusses end-of-life laws in Argentina, the Netherlands, Canada, and elsewhere. Although the text is organized into four parts and thirty chapters, the purpose of this organization is unclear because the book's multiple stories are woven through its multiple chapters. The author is a strong advocate of assisted dying (with the exception of persons with psychiatric disorders), but here he presents dissenting viewpoints including that of the AMA, currently restudying the issue. Chapter notes, bibliography, and index are useful, and the book is recommended especially for its numerous compelling examples. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers. --Ellen R. Paterson, emeritus, SUNY College at Cortland
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
