Final Wishes: A Cautionary Tale on Death, Dignity & Physician-Assisted Suicide [Paperback]

Paul Chamberlain (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2000

Recipient of an Honourable Mention in the 2001 God Uses Ink Contest!Patrick is dying a slow, agonizing death. He wants his friend, Dr. Ron Grey, to help him--but not to get better. Instead, Patrick wants Ron to help him end his suffering by ending his life.This is the premise of a story that Paul Chamberlain employs to reveal the ethical and emotional complexities of a movement that is gaining supporters daily. It is a story that sends Ron Grey on a difficult journey across a continent and through a minefield of conflicting ideas and values.Should people have a legal right to choose the time of their death? Can adequate safeguards be employed to protect the public from potential abuses of physician-assisted suicide laws? What does it mean for people to die with dignity? Will people feel an obligation not to burden their families with their prolonged illness? What has been the experience in the Netherlands, which has had a physician-assisted suicide law for over twenty-five years? What about the possibility of misdiagnosis? Is there a legitimate public interest in what appears to be a purely private act? Can morality be legislated at all?Paul Chamberlain considers all of these vital issues clearly and carefully. Yet as we move through the legal, political, medical and ethical questions, he also helps us to see the personal side of these topics played out in the context of a caring family and a deep friendship. Here is a timely and helpful book on one of the most controversial concerns of our day.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Dr. Ron Grey faces a dilemma. His good friend Patrick has been diagnosed with a fatal degenerative disease. When Patrick asks Ron to help him die peacefully and painlessly, Ron searches his mind, soul and spirit for answers. Ron starts his journey by attending Illinois Senate hearings where opponents and proponents debate the possible legalization of physician-assisted suicide (PAS). Ron soon learns that he is mired within the legal and political aspects of PAS as well as having to contend with the medical and ethical repercussions. While recounting this narrative, author Chamberlain takes readers on a thought-provoking, emotional journey through the many facets of PAS, presenting the basic arguments for and against this unorthodox medical proposal. As Ron discovers, persuasive reasons are found in both camps. "If PAS is illegal," the proponents ask, "aren't we treating animals more 'humanely' than we treat humans?" They also argue that "botched suicide attempts" will occur if legalization doesn't pass. Opponents contend that "PAS invites other, tragic, practices," placing physicians on a slippery ethical slope. "Legalizing PAS results in the devaluing of disabled and ill people," they claim, adding that legalization may also result in "misdiagnoses leading to suicide requests by people who are not terminally ill." Chamberlain addresses difficult, disturbing questions with an objectivity tempered by compassion. (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Deals honestly, compassionately, and intelligently with the controversial topic of physician-assisted suicide and introduces deep ethical questions. -- Moody Magazine, Sept./Oct. 2000

Product Details

• Paperback: 215 pages
• Publisher: InterVarsity Press (January 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0830822593
• ISBN-13: 978-0830822591
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,922,923 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #46 in Books > Medical Books > Medicine > Euthanasia

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Introduction from a Christian Perspective, September 2, 2001

By 

Kevin Bywater (Colorado Springs, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Final Wishes: A Cautionary Tale on Death, Dignity & Physician-Assisted Suicide (Paperback)

Paul Chamberlain has certainly provided us with an engaging and instructive volume on euthanasia. Couched in a fictional narrative, Chamberlain's plot walks us throught the relational, philosophical, medicinal, and legal dynamics of euthanasia. And though the narrative is fictional, Chamberlain points the reader to some of the better literature on the subject in his endnotes.

I seldom read a book cover-to-cover, but Chamberlain's narrative caught me and held me captive until I finished the book. But I must warn you, as someone still working his way through all the attendant issues (religious, social, philosophical and emotional), the first half of the book provides an emotionally swaying presentation of the case for physician-assisted suicide. While reading it, I kept wondering "What I would do -- if I was the one dying, or if I was the one asked to help a friend die?"

The second half of the book engages the many arguments in favor of euthanasia in a thoughtful, but never shallow, fashion. Here one will encounter a real struggle over suffering -- but viewed from the perspective of one informed by the facts, engaged in the drama, and influenced by sound religious, philosophical and social principles.

I enthusiastically recommend this book as an introduction to the subject by an author well-informed in all the facets of the issue. For more information, I would recommend the reader visit The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity (www.cbhd.org).

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Final Wishes - How About You?, September 26, 2000

By 

Scott A. McPherson "Tbone Doc" (Lincoln, NE) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Final Wishes: A Cautionary Tale on Death, Dignity & Physician-Assisted Suicide (Paperback)

Dr. Chamberlain plunges us into an ethical dilemma that is hotly debated around the country today. Physician assisted suicide has been considered in many states and legalized in Oregon. This book takes us to a probable state senatorial debate where the arguments for and against physician assisted suicide are presented. The debate boils in the senate while two friends, Dr. Ron and Dr. Pat, meet. Patrick is dying and Ron has to decide if he should assist in his friend's death. The reader's eyes are opened by a trip through a palliative care ward. The debate in the Senate shows how an issue can be molded and sculpted to look attractive. The author's credentials may help one to see which way the decision must go but in all fairness I leave the answer to the reader. The bigger question is how we are affected by the tale and what would we do?

0 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Just Give Me The Notes!, May 8, 2003

By 

Jeezus (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Final Wishes: A Cautionary Tale on Death, Dignity & Physician-Assisted Suicide (Paperback)

That's right, the author of this book either thinks that his readers are so stupid that they will not understand the blatant points and arguments his one-dimensional characters debate that he puts notes in the margins. As well, the prose style is so mundane that the notes are actually more exciting. He highlights the key arguments of PAS (Physician Assisted Suicide) but closes with the strongest arguments against and the strongest arguments for, stacking the deck against PAS. A biased book from a publisher that is biased (the publisher is a Christian publisher, a traditional Christian publisher, thus opposed to PAS).