The Case Against Assisted Suicide: For the Right to End-of-Life Care.

Foley, Kathleen and Herbert Hendin, eds. The Case Against Assisted Suicide: For the Right to End-of-Life Care. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.

The debate over physician-assisted suicide has drawn attention to the complex issues of end-of-life care. This text brings together ethicists, lawyers, clinicians, and health care policy experts who have argued thoughtfully and cogently against physician-assisted suicide as a social policy. The editors hope that publishing their essays in this format will provide a resource of facts, opinions and general discourse while offering a comprehensive perspective on the case against physician-assisted suicide and for palliative care.

The driving force in this publication is the editors' own clinical experience in caring for patients with serious life-threatening illnesses such as cancer and suicidal depression. Such patients, who are often elderly, are profoundly vulnerable in our current social and healthcare system, which devalues their quality of life and inadequately assesses and treats...