A Midwife Through the Dying Process
Stories of Healing and Hard Choices at the End of Life
by Timothy E. Quill, M.D.

Paperback
Published by Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date: November 1, 1996
ISBN: 0801855160

Synopsis:
The author is a leading figure in the death with dignity movement and was a party in the recent U. S. Supreme Court decision on assisted suicide (Vacco v. Quill). This book speaks with the authoritative voice of a physician who has been on the front lines of caring for dying people in hospice and other settings. His stories are about relationships with patients that he has known for many years, who at the end of life look to him for the compassionate management of their pain and suffering. This is not a book about anonymous euthanasia, but a look at how one physician has dealt with the suffering of friends.

This book gives realistic examples of how actual people faced life or death choices, including the question of assisted suicide. The author suggests approaches that will be thought-provoking for anyone faced with these situations or working in death care settings.

Terminal care often poses moral dilemmas for everyone concerned. Voluntary euthanasia is only one of the difficult moral choices that confront the dying and those who love them. Patients, family members, and health care professionals must find better ways to reconcile their ethical differences if the quality of care for the dying is to be improved.