Angels of Death: Exploring the Euthanasia Underground - Softcover

Magnusson, Roger S

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0522849709 ISBN 13: 9780522849707

Publisher: Melbourne University Press, 2024

Synopsis

Public discussion of euthanasia and assisted suicide is growing. In Australia as elsewhere the debate is difficult, contentious and confronting, and hampered by the secrecy that necessarily surrounds illegal practice. Most people simply have no way of knowing how, and how often, medically assisted death actually occurs. Roger Magnusson presents, for the first time, detailed first-hand accounts by doctors, nurses, therapists and other health professionals who have been participants in assisted death. All have been intimately involved in caring for people with AIDS, both in Australia and in California. He places these ambivalent, self-incriminating accounts within the broader context of the right-to-die debate and the challenges of palliative care. The frankness of the health workers and the richness of their collected evidence set this book apart. From within a culture of deception they speak knowingly and movingly of the merciful release of a peaceful death, while acknowledging the reality of 'botched attempts', euthanasia without consent, precipitative euthanasia, lack of accountability and professional distance, and many other disturbing issues. Angels of Death provides a wi

About this title

Review:

"... The stories told to Roger Magnusson are sometimes heart-breaking, and sometimes horrifying, but his findings are indispensable reading for everyone debating the legalisation of euthanasia, no matter what side they take." -- Peter Singer, author of A Darwinian Left: Politics, Evolution and Cooperation and Rethinking Life and Death.

Synopsis:

Angels of Death presents the findings of an interview-based study of illicit euthanasia as practised by health professionals working with HIV/AIDS patients. The principal author conducted 49 detailed interviews with medical practitioners, and nurses (and some therapists and community workers), primarily in Sydney, Melbourne and San Francisco. The interviews provide an insight into the social practices that surround illicit assisted suicide and euthanasia.

About this edition

• Publisher: Melbourne University Press
• Publication date: 2024
• ISBN 10: 0522849709
• ISBN 13: 9780522849707
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 344