A Good Death

Rodney Syme

ISBN 10: 0522855032 / ISBN 13: 9780522855036

Published by Melbourne University Press, AU, 2008

About this Item

A Good Death is Rodney Syme's extraordinarily candid and controversial account of the many terminally ill people who he has assisted to end their lives. Over the last 30 years Syme, at first clandestinely and now publicly, has challenged the law on voluntary euthanasia, risking prosecution in doing so. He again risks prosecution for writing this book. ""A Good Death"" is a moving journey with those who came to Rodney Syme for help and a meditation on what it means to confront death in our culture. It is also a doctor's personal story about the moral dilemmas and ethical choices he faces working within the grey areas of the law.In ""A Good Death"" Rodney Syme argues for the end of the unofficial 'conspiracy' of silence within the medical profession and the decriminalisation of voluntary euthanasia in Australia. Through Syme's determination to tell the stories of those who he has assisted to die with dignity, ""A Good Death"" also draws wider lessons of value for those who find themselves in a similar situation.

Seller Inventory # LU-9780522855036

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A Good Death
• Publisher: Melbourne University Press, AU
• Publication Date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0522855032
• ISBN 13: 9780522855036
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: New
• Weight: 432 grams

About this title

Synopsis

A Good Death is a candid and provocative account of the experiences of many terminally ill people Dr Rodney Syme has assisted to end their lives. Over the past thirty years Syme has challenged the law on voluntary euthanasia—at first clandestinely and now publicly—risking prosecution in doing so. He again risks prosecution for writing this book.
A Good Death is a moving journey with those who came to Syme for help, and a meditation on what it means in our culture to confront death. It is also a doctor's personal story about the moral dilemmas and ethical choices he faces working within the grey areas of the law.
In this important book, Rodney Syme argues for the end of the unofficial 'conspiracy' of silence within the medical profession and the decriminalisation of voluntary euthanasia in Australia. Through Syme's determination to tell the stories of those who he has assisted to die with dignity, A Good Death also draws wider lessons of value for those who find themselves in a similar situation.

About the Author

Rodney Syme has been in medical practice for forty-five years, primarily as a urological surgeon. He was Chair of the Victorian Section of the Urological Society of Australasia in 1990-92, and chair of the Urology Study Group of the Cancer Council of Victoria in 1992-94. He has had extensive experience with cancer patients and with people with severe spinal injuries. He has been an advocate for physician-assisted dying for nearly twenty years, and the President of the Dying With Dignity Victoria for ten years.