SAFEGUARDS
FOR LIFE-ENDING DECISIONS
THE BEST BOOKS
James Leonard Park
How to Die:
Safeguards for Life-Ending
Decisions
(Minneapolis,
MN: Existential Books,
20??) 600 pages
(ISBN:
)
(Library of Congress call
number:
)
Rather than being
another suicide-manual,
as might be suggested by the provocative title,
this book is strongly
opposed to irrational suicide.
Instead of endorsing the right-to-die
as implication of the right-to-commit-suicide,
this careful book fully embraces modern medicine
as doctors, their patients, and/or the patient's proxies
attempt to make wise,
end-of-life medical choices.
All of the readers of this book will die,
no matter when they were born.
But all who were born in the 20th century
and who were still alive in the 21st century
long enough to read this
book
will probably die while under some kind of medical care.
And in more than half of these deaths
there will be a meaningful element of choice.
As the practice of modern medicine evolves,
there will be ever greater recognition
of significant choices being
made at the end of life.
Life-ending decisions
that used to be downplayed and obscured
will come more into the open.
And with this greater honesty about how our lives really end,
there will be an emerging need for better safeguards
for the process of making decisions that end human lives.
The core of this book presents 26 careful
safeguards,
which can be applied selectively to all life-ending decisions.
Fulfilling these safeguards will involve several other people
beyond the patient and his or her doctors.
Depending on the specifics of each life-coming-to-an-end,
some safeguards will be more relevant than others.
And some will become completely impossible.
If, for instance, the patient is already in a coma,
the patient can no longer be consulted about medical decisions.
Fulfilling the most relevant safeguards
will be a practical and convincing way to separate
irrational suicide
from voluntary death
and mercy-killing
from merciful death.
Consistent and faithful use of the most meaningful
safeguards
will enable the right-to-die movement to emerge from the shadows
of its early attempts to empower people to choose reasonable death.
Even before right-to-die laws are enacted to embody such safeguards,
consulting the recommended people and getting their written approval
will almost guarantee that everyone who helps other people
to choose a timely death
will not face prosecution
wherever a jury of their peers would decide their guilt or innocence.
Common sense will prevail when the fulfilled safeguards
point toward a chosen death as the best solution.
This volume concludes with 7 bibliographies (63
pages),
reviewing dozens of other books on themes related to the right-to-die.
Best of all, the compete text of How to Die:
Safeguards for Life-Ending
Decisions
is available free-of-charge on the Internet:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/aws-website-jamesleonardpark---freelibrary-3puxk/HTD.html
And even after the printed and bound book is finally ready,
the revised text will remain as an Internet
Book.
Created
April 18, 2013; Revised 11-24-2013; 2-26-2015; 3-19-2018;
See
related bibliographies:
Best
Books on Voluntary Death
Best
Books on Preparing for Death
Books
on Terminal Care
Books
on
Hospice Care
Books on Helping Patients to Die
Books
Supporting the
Right-to-Die
Books
Opposing
the Right-to-Die
Go to the Right-to-Die
Portal.
Go to the Book
Review Index
to discover 350 other reviews
organized into 60 bibliographies.
Return to the DEATH
page.
Go to the Medical
Ethics
index page.
Go to
the beginning of this website
James
Leonard Park—Free
Library