Someday - Hardcover

Malcolm, Andrew H.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0394587820 ISBN 13: 9780394587820

Publisher: Knopf, 1991

Synopsis

Reveals how values formed under the guidance of a parent become a source of strength when an elderly loved one approaches the end of life and a choice must be made about the right to die

About this title

From Library Journal:

"This is a true story about a little boy and his mother at the beginning of life and a man and his mother at the end," writes Malcolm, a New York Times correspondent. Like Le Anne Schreiber's Mid streams ( LJ 12/89), which balanced Schreiber's account of her mother's death with her own search for spiritual renewal, Malcolm presents two parallel journeys . As a journalist, he covers major stories on euthanasia, negotiated deaths, and the right to die; as a middle-aged son dealing with a dying 75-year-old mother being kept alive by artificial means, he faces painful questions that most of us put off for that inevitable someday. At times, this results in an uneasy mix of memoir and journalism, but Malcolm's moving description of his decision to allow Nature to take its course and to let his mother go makes this a timely book in this age of Karen Anne Quinlan and Nancy Cruzan. Recommended for public library collections.
- Wilda Williams, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly:

In this affecting autobiographical account, New York Times correspondent Malcolm ( Unknown America ) focuses on his volatile relationship with his mother through the lens of his responsibility for her fate when, at age 75 and afflicted with incurable cancer, she was kept alive by artificial means. Calling on his narrative skills and his observations as a reporter of medical procedures, he demonstrates with poignant examples how ignorance and indecision, abetted by life-prolonging technology, draw out the suffering of the terminally ill and inflict huge financial burdens on families and taxpayers. An article in the New York Times about his agonizing decision to release his mother from suffering by "pulling the plug" brought hundreds of supportive letters and reinforced his belief that legal provisions, such as Living Wills and Proxy Health Agents, can help alleviate the pain and anxiety of such situations. Photos. Author tour.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Knopf
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0394587820
• ISBN 13: 9780394587820
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 295