Death Talk: The Case Against Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide

Ian W. Toal is a registered nurse in Barrie, Ontario.

The author of this superb book is a well-respected medical ethicist who
is opposed to efforts to legalize euthanasia. However, she recognizes
the need for debate on the subject, given the huge impact of
technological advances on the practice of medicine, genetics, and how we
live in communities.

The goal of euthanasia “is to relieve suffering by causing death.”
It is an active process in which someone takes deliberate action to end
the life of another person (refusing or stopping life-sustaining
treatment is not considered euthanasia).

Dr. Somerville believes that euthanasia demeans human life by turning
suffering of all types into a live-or-die proposition. At the same time,
she recognizes and explains the ethical difference between deliberately
giving large amounts of morphine to ease pain while hastening death and
giving the morphine to ease pain by causing death.

Death Talk is a challenging book, but one that amply rewards the reader
who is prepared to give serious consideration to its arguments.