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The Choice: Seasons of Loss and Renewal After a Father's Decision to Die

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The Choice is a beautifully written, heartfelt journey. I felt Judy's love and loss of her father. I also relished her words as she described relationships with family, friends, and colleagues as well as the changes in life. Judy is a gifted writer.

No matter your stand on the subject of assisted suicide, this book will touch your heart.

Judy Brown
The Choice: Seasons of Loss and Renewal
after a Father's Decision to Die
(Berkeley, CA: Conari Press, 1995)
(ISBN: 1-57324-021-4; paperback)
(Library of Congress call number: R726.B78 1995)

Judy Brown tells of the life and death of her father,
who decided to die because he was in failing health.
He asked for help from Dr. Jack Kevorkian,
then much in the news (1993).
Her father had been a farmer and agricultural agent.
He was blind and dying from pancreatic cancer.
His family agreed that a voluntary death
was preferable to dying in pain a few months later.

He was well known in his community.
And the people of the surrounding area
mostly understood his choice and honored his decision
to die at the best time and by the best means.

Another woman requested to die with Dr. Kevorkian's help
at the same time and place, which was readily arranged.

This book actually tells more about the internal process of the daughter
than the thinking and planning of the father,
but it nevertheless adds to the literature of
the right-to-die from the perspective of the family members
who were deeply involved in the patient's voluntary death.

If you would like to read other books about choosing to die,
search the Internet for this bibliography:
"Best Books on Voluntary Death".

James Leonard Park, advocate of the right-to-die with careful safeguards.