Literature

Words in Pain
Letters on Life and Death

by Olga Jacoby
edited by Jocelyn Catty and Trevor Moore
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1-911072-35-5
Skyscraper Publicatiosn Limited, 2019

First published posthumously in 1919, Words in Pain represents the collected letters of writer, thinker and rationalist Olga Jacoby when living “under sentence of death” from a terminal heart condition. This book is a picture of family life and love, interspersed with clear headed musings on the nature of illness, loss and death. (Link)

The Switzerland Schedule
An essay on a family’s experience by Robin Williamson (Link)

In Love
A memoir of Love and Loss

by Amy Bloom (Link)
Penguin Random House, New York
ISBN 978 1 78378 799 9
first published in 2022

This book is Amy Bloom’s account of losing her husband Brian twice, first slowly to Alzheimer’s dementia, and then when she becomes a widow: Brian choose to take control of his death by travelling to ‘DIGNITAS – To live with dignity – To die with dignity’ in 2020, accompanied by Amy.

Alzheimer’s Disease: What it’s like to see it coming and Choosing death with dignity in the face of Alzheimer’s Disease A family’s experience, in two blog articles by Debra Bunce (pdf)

Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking
A Compassionate, Widely-Available Option for Hastening Death

edited by Timothy E. Quill, Paul T. Menzel, Thaddeus Pope, and Judith K. Schwarz
Oxford University Press
ISBN 978-0-19-008073-0
first published August 2021

Persons living with incurable and progressive or terminal illness often wonder what may lie ahead as their disease progresses. Some of these individuals and their families will seek information about options and choices that permit a hastened death if their suffering or deterioration becomes intolerable. Voluntary stopping eating and drinking (VSED) is a widely available option that permits decisionally capable persons to hasten death. This book provides clinically realistic descriptions of the practice and, in separate chapters, explores benefits and challenges along clinical, ethical, legal, and institutional dimensions. (Link)

A Beautiful Sunset
A novel about the final curtain call of life

by Uniting Church elder Everald Compton.

The novel considers the lives and deaths of four individuals from widely varied backgrounds who all share the same doctor. The way Everald interweaves the story of these individuals adds a deeply personal feeling to the Voluntary Assisted Dying issue. The book can be purchased direct from Everald Compton with this weblink

Medical Aid in Dying: Key Variations Among U.S. State Laws
Medical aid in dying (MAID) is legal in eleven US jurisdictions representing one-fourth of the US population, but despite its legality, MAID is practically available to only a subset of qualified patients in these states. MAID’s eligibility requirements and procedural safeguards may impede a patient’s access. (Link to the abstract)
Author: Thaddeus Mason Pope, Health Law Institute at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, Saint Paul, MI
publ. 2020 in: State Laws, J. Health and Life Sci. L., American Health Law Assoc.

O, Let me Not Get Alzheimer’s Sweet Heaven!
Why many people prefer death or active deliverance to living with dementia

by Colin Brewer
Foreword by Henry Marsh
published by Skyscraper Publications, Bloxham, UK
ISBN-13: 978-1-911072-42-3
first published 2019

“Life is not always wonderful and not all things in it are bright and beautiful.” Alzheimer’s is one of those dark, ugly things and most people hope for a quick death if they get it. Modern medicine prolongs the agony for everyone but as Dr Colin Brewer’s book shows, there are choices, from refusing tube-feeding and resuscitation to ‘deliverance’, a planned, peaceful farewell at home amid friendly faces. It’s an option many doctors choose. Their patients should have the same privilege and comfort.

Preparing To Leave

Author: Michael Irwin
First published June 2018 (PDF)

In this booklet, Michael Irwin describes his personal views on "Life", refers to his right-to-die activities since he became the chairman of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society, in the UK (in 1996), and considers the best ways he would like his own life to end.

My life as an animal
A Memoir – Adventures, Music, Animal Rights
by Andrew Tyler
including: Postscript – Dying with Dignity, by Sara Starkey
Loop Books, Tonbridge, Kent TN9 1AW, England
first published 2017
ISBN: 978-1-905327-40-9
Website (Link)
2017 Lush Prize Andrew Tyler Award: >> Link to video of tribute

Excerpt: If all went to plan on April 28, 2017, I ended my life in a small village in the canton of Zurich, accompanied by officials from Dignitas. […] ‘The alternative, because of my condition, was to eke out more years without purpose’, I wrote in my letter, ‘without the work that means so very much to me, shrinking into pain, infirmity and indignity. I do not want that! I want to be free of that dread prospect...’[…] Despite the negatives, those last months were very satisfying - working on my book, taking stock of things, being content that I had a (hopefully) dignified way out. My October 2015 letter showed how clear my thinking was. In it I say that the prospect of a Dignitas-assisted death ‘...gives me great heart and a feeling of positivity. I have had a rich, varied and wonderfully fulfilling life... To be able to make choices about how it ends and exert a real measure of control would be wonderful.’

Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant?
A Memoir

by Roz Chast
ISBN: 978-1632861016
published by Bloomsbury, USA
first Edition June 2014, reprint September 2016
Website (Link)

Wisdom from a Chair: Thirty Years of Quadriplegia
The Memoirs of Andrew I. Batavia

by Andrew I. Batavia and Mitchell Batavia
ISBN: 978-1-63491-079-8
published by BookLocker.com Inc., Bradenton, Florida, USA
first Edition, April 2016
Website (Link)

Andrew (Drew) I. Batavia (1957-2003) was a disability activist, professor, scholar, and attorney who served as a White House Fellow 1990-91 and wrote regulations for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. He was also an advocate for physician assisted dying who participated in several US court cases, including presenting an amicus brief before the US Supreme Court and the Florida State Supreme Court. This book is his memoirs, describing his remarkable life and wisdom acquired as a person with C2-3 quadriplegia, paralyzed from the shoulders down.

Approaching Old-Old

Author: Michael Irwin
First published June 2014 (Link / PDF)

Rambling Poem
being a Farewell Letter in Verse
to Relatives, Friends, and Acquaintances

by Nail Chiodo (pseudonym of Luigi Attardi)  www.nailchiodo.com
original in English; translation into French by Frédéric Dévé and
into Italian by Franceso Dalessandro

The booklet can be ordered from:

Edizioni Empiria
Via Bacchina, 79
00184 Roma, Italia
Tel & fax +39 058 0177 1006
www.empiria.com / This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

I’ll See Myself out, Thank You
Thirty personal views in support of assisted suicide

This book contains essays which cover every aspect of the topic, from the legal and religious issue to the deeply personal experiences of patients and carers. Among the contributors are doctors, philosophers, priests, writers and politicians.

Edited by Colin Brewer and Michael Irwin
Skyscraper Publications Limited, Newbold on Stour, UK
ISBN-13: 978-0-9926270-9-6
First published 2015

Assisted Dying - Who Makes the Final Decision?
The case for greater choice at the end of life

“This book is dedicated to all those who have travelled to Dignitas to be given help to die. It is also dedicated to the countless other people who have suffered intolerable because they could not have that same compassionate help to die in the UK...."

Edited by Lesley Close and Jo Cartwright
Foreword by Sir Terry Pratchett
Peter Owen Publishers, London and Chicago
ISBN 978-0-7206-1014-7
First published 2014
Website (Link)

John's Final Journey - You can have my seat on the way back!

John Close died at Dignitas on May 26th 2003. This affectionate biography is written by his younger sister and published as an ebook to mark the tenth anniversary of his death.

Author: Lesley Mary Close
Kindle Edition, 1st edition May 2013

Damned if I do
The autobiography of Philip Nitschke

This book is the revealing and personal story of Philip Nitschke, physicist, medical doctor and activist – the man behind Australia’s controversial pro-euthanasia movement, told in his own words.

Authors: Philip Nitschke with Peter Corris
ISBN: 9780522861419
published September 2013, 208 pages

Doctor, Please Help Me Die

Tom Preston, medical doctor, presents a thorough overview and discussion of end-of-life issues and physician-assisted death in America and how most doctors fail their patients by not discussing dying with them – and by refusing to consider legal physician aid in dying ultimately deceiving the public.

Publisher: iUniverse, January 2013
ISBN-10: 1475963793
ISBN-13978-1475963793

Our Right To Die - Lessons for Britain from the European experience

With more than 200 British citizens having left the UK to seek medical help to die in Switzerland, British Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Davies argues for a change in the law to allow people to choose to die at home, in their own country.

Author: Chris Davies
Publisher: R. Marbrow on behalf of Chris Davies, September 2012

To Die Well. Your Right to Comfort, Calm and Choice in the Last Days of Life

This book brings needed hope and comfort to those who are near death and to those who attend the dying and are responsible for ensuring that a good death is possible. The book will appeal to patients, their families, and their caregivers (Journal of the American Medical Association).

Authors: Sidney H. Wanzer and Joseph Glenmullen
Publisher: Da Capo Press, 1st edition, 26 February 2008
ISBN 978-0738211633

Euthanasia and law in Europe

The book with an in-depth description of the legal situation in Europe

Authors: J. Griffiths, H. Weyers and M. Adams
ISBN 978-1-84113-700-1