Overview
How should you respond when your patient asks for aid in dying?Regardless of the current legal status of assisted suicide, physicians and mental health professionals everywhere are being confronted by this difficult situation. This timely and important work guides caregivers through the complicated moral questions that arise when approached by a patient seeking aid in dying. Written in a clear and compassionate style, Assisted Suicide helps professionals work through the numerous factors involved in the complex decision-making process."Based on the author's extensive experience, the book offers guidance to both primary and behavioral clinicians who act as gatekeepers to assisted suicide...with numerous case studies and specific guidelines to aid in decision-making."
Synopsis
How should you respond when your patient asks for aid in dying?
This groundbreaking book is a much needed guide to the difficult and complex issue of assisted dying. Written with compassion and understanding, this is the first work to offer physicians and mental health professionals specific, concrete guidelines on counseling and assisting patients who are considering suicide. Based on his extensive experience with hundreds of patients, Stephen Jamison provides a balanced, well reasoned approach to this morally difficult situation. He leads you through the decision making process in a step-by-step manner, and provides a range of options, guidelines, and tools to help you.
This book provides you with a thoughtful and compassionate understanding as you
* become aware of the range of ethical, emotional, and practical concerns surrounding assisted dying
* understand more clearly your own thoughts and feelings about death and dying, and feel more comfortable with your own position regarding assisted dying
* comprehAnd more precisely the actual meaning of a patient's expressed desire to die
Filled with suggestions, criteria, and techniques, Assisted Suicide will prove to be an invaluable aid when discussing this difficult issue with incurable and terminal patients, and their families and friAnds.
The Author
Stephen Jamison is president of the Mental Health Association of Marin County. He lives in Mill Valley, California.
Contents
1. The Ethical Debate
2. When a Patient Says I Want to Die
3. Responding to Requests for Help
4. Understanding Family Dynamics
5.Working Through the Choices
6. The Final Decision
Booknews
Drawing on his experience with hundreds of patients, social psychologist Jamison (social and behavioral sciences, U. of California-San Francisco) offers physicians and health-care providers a framework for making decisions about assisting in a patient's death. He proceeds through the decision-making process discussing a range of options, guidelines, and tools. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.