Anita Ho, a bioethics professor at the University of British Columbia’s Centre for Applied Ethics, reviewed That Good Night in the October 2009 issue of the Literary Review of Canada. It’s a thoughtful essay and not really a bad review at all — in fact, it may even make some LRC subscribers want to read the book — though apparently her take on dying with dignity isn’t the same as mine.
It’s not online, so here’s a taste:
As a bioethicist whose work in clinical ethics is also dominated by end-of-life issues, I particularly welcome how That Good Night includes multiple voices and perspectives – it weaves stories of patients, families, physicians, and ethicists together in exploring how our health-care system, despite its promises to be patient-centred and respectful of diverse perspectives, often fails to honour the wishes of or provide comfort for those who are facing an impending death. Various anecdotes illustrate how the lack of appropriate support has led to people dying alone, in pain or hooked up to machines. Nonetheless, as powerful as the stories are in conveying patients’ and families’ agony, some of the discussions Falconer presents may also inadvertently oversimplify the meaning of a good death.
Regardless, before the piece even hit newsstands, the editors at the Literary Review of Canada asked me to write a response. Now, I’ve always understood that the last thing an author should do is respond to a bad review — the standard advice is: “Sure, you can write a letter, but you should never, ever send it” — and, as I say, this wasn’t even a bad review. But, assured that author’s rebuttals are a regular feature in the LRC, I wrote a response that’s in the November 2009 issue and is online (scroll down to the seventh letter). It ends this way: “Well, I’m sure she sees a lot more death than I ever will (not that I’m complaining) and she would hardly be the first expert to accuse a journalist of oversimplification, but my book never judges how others decide to die, arguing instead that we all have the right to choose our own ‘good death.’ If Ho can find dignity and meaning in going out on a flotilla of medical technology, I respect her choice. But she shouldn’t expect everyone else to make the same one. Nowadays, even assisted suicide seems more natural than years spent lingering on life support, so I know how I want to die—as does my wife, just in case.”
The special “Legalize Everything” issue of This Magazine is now out. It includes provocative pieces on legalizing hate speech, music piracy, drugs and raw milk — and my short essay on legalizing assisted suicide. Please consider buying the magazine at your favourite newsstand, but you can also read my argument online (there’s also a poll, so please vote).
Parliament will soon vote on Bill C-384, Bloq Quebecois MP Francine Lalonde’s private member’s bill to legalize assisted suicide. So I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that Canada’s national newspapers are finally paying attention to the issue. Today, The Globe and Mail ran an excellent op-ed piece in favour of assisted suicide by Arthur Shafer, director of the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba. “When it comes to end-of-life care, Canadians should be able to choose from among a full range of options, including first-rate palliative care and physician-assisted suicide,” he writes. “With proper safeguards in place to ensure openness and accountability, there’s no reason to deny people the help they want and need.”
Earlier this week, The National Post ran an op-ed by Steven Fletcher, a Conservative MP who became a C4 quadriplegic after a collision between a car and a moose in 1996. He calls the bill “a provocative starting point for a discussion about potential choices at the end of life.” And while he won’t vote for it because he believes it’s flawed, neither will he vote against it, saying he “cannot vote against empowering Canadians to make deeply personal decisions for themselves.” So he’ll abstain.
Although I obviously wish he’d vote for C-384, I applaud him for giving the issue serious thought, voting his conscience — instead of his politics — and explaining his decision. Would that our other politicians would do the same.
Francine Lalonde’s private member’s bill to legalize assisted suicide is the seventh such bill before the House of Commons in the last 18 years, according to this excellent column called “Ottawa can’t ignore euthanasia debate forever” by Don Martin. Well worth reading.
More on how Quebec is going to lead Canada in the right-to-die debate: 77 percent of the people in that province support legalizing euthanasia, according to a recent Angus Reid poll and this Montreal Gazette article.
Over the years, polls have consistently shown that across the country support for assisted suicide is about 70 percent. Two years ago, 84 percent of people in Quebec were in favour of assisted suicide and it would be interesting to see what that number would be today. I suspect that using the term “euthanasia” instead of “assisted suicide” generates very different results.
Sir Edward Downes, a prominent composer with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, and his wife Joan have taken advantage of Dignitas, the Swiss organization that helps people die with dignity, and that’s news in Britain.
Downes was 85; his wife, a ballet dancer who became a choreographer and TV producer, was 74. They had been married for 54 years and “died peacefully, and under circumstances of their own choosing” according to a statement from their children.
Last week the House of Lords nixed Lord Falconer’s efforts to make it legal to accompany someone seeking help dying in another country. (I’ve written about the British situation here and here). But if the lawmakers thought that was the end of the matter, they were wrong. Such a high-profile case is sure to prolong the much-needed discussion.
Of course, the deaths aren’t news in Canada and, much to the relief of our politicians, we continue to sleepwalk through our lives oblivious to what awaits us.
McGill News, the alumni magazine of Canada’s best university, reviews That Good Night and says, “Tim Falconer’s thoughtful new book…approaches the thorny issues surrounding end-of-life care with sensitivity.” (Scroll down — it’s the fourth review on the page.)
My reading at the new McNally Robinson Booksellers is tonight at 7 pm.
Eight hundred Britons have signed up with Dignitas and 100 have gone to Switzerland to die with dignity with the organization’s help, according to this piece on the British assisted suicide debate from The Economist. In addition, four out of five people support changes to the assisted suicide laws in that country so that anyone accompanying a terminally ill patient to Switzerland would not be doing anything illegal, as is now the case.
Assisted suicide is getting lots of attention across the pond. There have been a couple of high-profile cases in Britain recently and while a proposal to legalize assisted suicide seems destined to fail in Parliament, Lord Falconer (no relation, obviously) is pushing for an amendment that would make it legal for Brits to travel to Switzerland to die with dignity. He laid out his argument in an op-ed piece in The Times.
In other words, the debate is happening there and while the legalization of assisted suicide in Britain made not come right away, it will happen after citizens have had a real chance to learn about it.
Would that we were having a similar discussion here in Canada.
I will be reading and speaking at McNally Robinson’s Toronto location at 7 pm on Friday, June 12. Aside from a chance to hear more about That Good Night: Ethicists, Euthanasia and End-of-Life Care, it’s a great opportunity to check out the new store. I haven’t been yet, but I’ve been hearing great things, including that it offers the selection of a big-box store and the charm and comfort of an independent. Sounds good to me.
Austin Cline considers how Oregon’s “death with dignity” law has “improved the lives — and deaths — of so many.” He writes: “The actual consequences have been far more in line with what supporters predicted: some people would avail themselves of the drugs while the overall medical industry would shift to a position which does more to alleviate the pain, suffering, and indignity experienced by the terminally ill.”
I had a great time talking about That Good Night at Furby House Books in Port Hope yesterday. It’s an charming and excellent bookstore and the folks who run it — owner Bill Edwards and manager Jenny Munro — are lovely people who appreciate books and authors. If you’re ever in Port Hope, be sure to drop in.
The audience for my talk was really engaged, which is always a thrill for a speaker, and most seemed to share my belief that the issues that I cover in the book — including assisted suicide — are ones we need to talk about. So let’s get the debate started.
I will be appearing in support of That Good Night at the fabulous Furby House Books in Port Hope at 3 pm on Saturday, May 2.
A couple of weeks ago, I mailed a copy of That Good Night: Ethicists, Euthanasia and the End-of-Life along with a copy of the fabulous Spring 2009 issue of the Ryerson Review of Journalism to my friend Amy, who lives in Los Angeles, California. Yesterday, the package arrived encased in tape that said it had been resealed by the US Postal Service. The magazine was there, but the book wasn’t. Would someone really confiscate a book because it had the word “euthanasia” in the subtitle?
As I mentioned in my last post, I was on CBC Radio’s Wild Rose Country today. Lots of Albertans called in — far more than host Donna McElligott expected and far more than could fit into a half hour segment. And, in fact, Donna didn’t get to interview me as much as she’d hoped.
This didn’t surprise me. In the last two weeks, I’ve realized that people really do want to talk about death. I’m not saying they find it easy to talk about — just that they are aching to do it. Not only are they watching their parents and grandparents die and being disturbed by what they see, they are starting to think about what awaits them.
So far the medical and ethical communities haven’t shown much interest in having a public discussion about the negotiated death — let alone ideas such as assisted suicide and euthanasia — but I don’t think they will be able to control the masses much longer. I hope That Good Night helps ignite the conversation.
I will be talking about That Good Night during the phone-in segment of CBC Radio’s Wild Rose Country today at 12:30. Listen at 1010 AM and 99.1 FM in Calgary and 740 AM and 93.9 FM in Edmonton.
Stuart Laidlaw has two stories in today’s Toronto Star that you should read. “Dead when the doctor says you are” is a good look at end-of-life ethics in the wake of the Kaylee Wallace case at the Hospital for Sick Children. “Ethicists help negotiate life and death decisions” is about That Good Night. Laidlaw’s Medical Ethics Blog is also worth reading, especially if you’re interested in the Baby Kaylee case, and you can follow him on Twitter at @StuartLaidlaw.
Given a choice between a review that praises the writing, but belittles the book, and one that praises the book, but belittles the writing, I’ll take the latter. So I guess I should be okay with this review of That Good Night by Bert Archer in the National Post, though I was tempted to go with this headline: “Imperfect writer reviews imperfect book for imperfect newspaper.”
Stuart Laidlaw of The Toronto Star interviewed me about That Good Night yesterday and put a few thoughts about the word euthanasia on his blog. He is working on a story that should appear in the paper soon.