Over a decade ago the field of bioethics was established in response to the increased control over the design of living organisms afforded by both medical genetics and biotechnology. Since its introduction, bioethics has become established as an academic discipline with journals and professional societies, is covered regularly in the media, and affects people everyday around the globe. In response to the increasing need for information about medical genetics and biotechnology as well as the ethical issues these fields raise, Sheed & Ward proudly presents the Readings in Bioethics Series. Edited by Thomas A. Shannon, the series provides anthologies of critical essays and reflections by leading ethicists in four pivotal areas: reproductive technologies, genetic technologies, death and dying, and health care policy. The goal of this series is twofold: first, to provide a set of readers on thematic topics for introductory or survey courses in bioethics or for courses with a particular theme or time limitation. Second, each of the readers in this series is designed to help students focus more thoroughly and effectively on specific topics that flesh out the ethical issues at the core of bioethics. The series is also highly accessible to general readers interested in bioethics. This volume collects critical essays by leading scholars on the definition of death, consciousness, quality of life, tube feeding, pallative care, physician-assisted suicide and the debate on euthanasia. Included in this volume are works by Paul B. Bascom, David DeGrazia, Ezekiel J. Emanuel, Kathleen Foley, Herbert Hendin, Michael Panicola, Stephen G. Post, Thomas A. Shannon, Charles F. von Gunten, Susan W. Tolle.

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.

Doctors, Patients, and Assisted Suicide
Revised and Updated Edition

A psychiatrist and world-famous authority on suicide offers a persuasive argument against legalizing assisted suicide in the United States.

Few issues set off such impassioned debate as euthanasia and assisted suicide, but until now, no one has shown what their practice means in the actual experience of patients, doctors, and families.

Herbert Hendin has studied such experience in the United States and also in the Netherlands, where assisted suicide and euthanasia are accepted. Using interviews with leading medical and legal architects of Dutch practices, and evaluating actual cases, Dr. Hendin addresses the difficult questions: Who actually makes the decision that a patient will die? How do the needs and character of family, friends, and doctors affect the choice? Throughout the book and in his conclusion, Dr. Hendin shows what we can do to find better options for those facing the final phase of life.

• "A powerful contribution to this debate."--Charles E. Rosenberg, New York Times Book Review
• "Closely reasoned and exhaustively researched. . . . Hendin's objections . . . carry a bone-chilling conviction."--Washington Post Book World
• "[An] important and alarming report." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

In this new edition of his acclaimed work, Dr. Herbert Hendin casts new light on the problem of suicide, offering what he calls a "psychosocial perspective." Demonstrating that treatment of seriously suicidal people is possible, he also shows how our social policy toward suicide is marked by misconception. He evaluates the "right-to-die" movement, and in a comprehensive new chapter he presents a powerful portrait of euthanasia and assisted suicide in the Netherlands. Interviews with the leading practitioners and proponents are included. This book has much to say not only about how we die but also about how we choose to live.