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.”