A Good Death
Making the Most of Our Final Choices
On Sale: 04/12/2016
A Good Death
Making the Most of Our Final Choices
On Sale: 04/12/2016
Format:
Donner Prize
British Columbia National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction
Walrus Best Book of the Year
About the Book
Having a good death is our final human right, argues Sandra Martin in this updated and expanded version of her bestselling and award-winning social history of the right to die movement in Canada and around the world.
Winner of the BC National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction, finalist for both the Donner Prize in Public Policy and the Dafoe Prize for History, A Good Death has a new chapter on Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying Law. The law allows mentally competent adults, who are suffering grievously from incurable conditions, to ask for a doctor’s help in ending their lives.
Does the law go far enough? No, says Martin. She delivers compelling stories about the patients the law ignores: people with life-crushing diseases who are condemned to suffer because their natural deaths are not reasonably foreseeable. With a clear analytical eye, she exposes the law’s shortcomings and outlines constitutional challenges, including the presumed right of publicly-funded faith-based institutions to deny suffering patients a legal medical service.
Martin argues that Canada can set an example for the world if it can strike a balance between compassion for the suffering and protection of the vulnerable, between individual choice and social responsibility. A Good Death asks the tough question none of us can avoid: How do you want to die? The answer will change your life—and your death.
“[An] excellent new book. . . .The timeliness is hard to overstate.” —The Globe and Mail
“What truly distinguishes this book is the reportage on individuals and families who have fought to arrange for a better death. . . . These first-hand experiences are the beating heart of a timely and powerful examination.” —2017 BC National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction Jury Citation
Critical Praise
A timely & deeply felt account of assisted dying: the histories, the issues. — Margaret Atwood via @Atwood
A must read on this profoundly important topic, with no stone left unturned, no matter how painful or raw the issues. — Svend Robinson, NDP MP 1979-2004
Sandra Martin frankly challenges us to confront death. Through A Good Death, we learn about the people who helped shape our assisted death revolution. We are drawn deep into the complex medical, legal, and social realities of dying in Canada--and we will be the better for it. — Jocelyn Downie, Professor, Law and Medicine, Dalhousie University; Trudeau Fellow 2015
Sandra Martin, Canada’s most eloquent obituary writer, brings her exquisite insight to the inescapable challenge of our lives: How to die. Her exploration of the human finale, including eldercare, assisted suicide, and spiritual reconciliation, help demystify the inevitable and prod us to live more profoundly. — Paula Todd, author of A Quiet Courage: Inspiring Stories From All of Us
“There is a powerful, penetrating message: A good death should be considered a human right, and how we die the final choice each of us makes in life.” — André Picard, health columnist for The Globe and Mail and author of The Gift of Death: Confronting Canada's Tainted Blood Tragedy
-Resources
Product Details
- ISBN: 9781443435987
- ISBN 10: 1443435988
- Imprint: Patrick Crean Editions
- On Sale: 04/12/2016
- Pages: 400
- List Price:11.99 CAD
- BISAC1 : SOCIAL SCIENCE / Penology