A Merciful End: The Euthanasia Movement in Modern America

A Merciful End: The Euthanasia Movement in Modern America
by Ian Dowbiggin
(1)

Buy new: $59.95 $57.09
58 used & new from $0.28

(Visit the Most Wished For in Right to Die list for authoritative information on this product's current rank.)

Review & Description

While it may seem that debates over euthanasia began with Jack Kervorkian, the practice of mercy killing extends back to Ancient Greece and beyond. In America, the debate has raged for well over a century.
Now, in A Merciful End, Ian Dowbiggin offers the first full-scale historical account of one of the most controversial reform movements in America. Drawing on unprecedented access to the archives of the Euthanasia Society of America, interviews with important figures in the movement today, and flashpoint cases such as the tragic fate of Karen Ann Quinlan, Dowbiggin tells the dramatic story of the men and women who struggled throughout the twentieth century to change the nation's attitude--and its laws--regarding mercy killing. In tracing the history of the euthanasia movement, he documents its intersection with other progressive social causes: women's suffrage, birth control, abortion rights, as well as its uneasy pre-WWII alliance with eugenics. Such links brought euthanasia activists into fierce conflict with Judeo-Christian institutions who worried that "the right to die" might become a "duty to die." Indeed, Dowbiggin argues that by joining a sometimes overzealous quest to maximize human freedom with a desire to "improve" society, the euthanasia movement has been dogged by the fear that mercy killing could be extended to persons with disabilities, handicapped newborns, unconscious geriatric patients, lifelong criminals, and even the poor. Justified or not, such fears have stalled the movement, as more and more Americans now prefer better end-of-life care than wholesale changes in euthanasia laws.
For anyone trying to decide whether euthanasia offers a humane alternative to prolonged suffering or violates the "sanctity of life," A Merciful End provides fascinating and much-needed historical context.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #975366 in Books
• Published on: 2003-01-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 1.28 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 272 pages

The Case of Terri Schiavo: Ethics at the End of Life

The Case of Terri Schiavo: Ethics at the End of Life
by Arthur L. Caplan, James J. McCartney, Dominic A. Sisti
(3)

Buy new: $21.98 $15.85
45 used & new from $1.19

(Visit the Most Wished For in Right to Die list for authoritative information on this product's current rank.)

Review & Description

After the Nancy Cruzan case was decided by the Supreme Court in 1990, and ultimately resolved by the Courts of the State of Missouri, the decision to withhold or withdraw life-prolonging nutrition and hydration appeared to many to be as non-controversial as decisions to refuse respirators or dialysis. Even the Catholic Church held that, although there should be a presumption in favour of providing nutrition and hydration, the patient or the patient's surrogate could overrule this presumption, if either believed the treatment was disproportionate or burdensome. The Schiavo case changed all that. Although the decision to remove Terri Schiavo's nutrition and hydration was made by her husband - her legal surrogate - based on his wife's belief that such treatment was disproportionate, Schiavo's immediate family protested so much that the case took years to resolve. It eventually involved all branches of government at both the state and federal levels. The ethical dilemmas that such cases pose continue to stir great controversy. This in-depth examination of these dilemmas provides information and documentation from many perspectives. For anyone wishing an in-depth understanding of these complex ethical issues, issues many of us will have to confront in our own families, this volume is indispensable.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #850339 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .78" h x 5.96" w x 9.00" l, 1.05 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 377 pages