The opinions for and against euthanasia in Regulating How We Die do more than rehearse the arguments over the merciful treatment of extreme suffering (pain is the prime motivation in only 3 per cent of requests for assisted dying). Editor Linda Emanuel raises major questions of personal freedom and social care in a diverse collection sure to trigger heated arguments.

Regulating How We Die 'aims to clarify and balance the arguments concerning physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia and to direct attention to the root issues that motivate calls for their use in our time.' The list of the 10 contributors is a Who's Who for bioethics and health law, and they cover the breadth of ethical, moral, and legal issues that surround physician assisted suicide and euthanasia. Of special interest are chapters on 'Facing assisted suicide and euthanasia in children and adolescents' and 'Religious viewpoints.' Although the legislative focus is on the Netherlands and United States, other countries, like Britain, are fully considered...Regulating How We Die is a valuable source of balanced information...Written with grace and clarity, the book comprehensively explores the arguments for and against--cross cultural, religious, moral, and ethical aspects are considered. It will 'help to guide those who must make very difficult decisions, whether at a level of public policy, in the personal practice, or among their own family members.' As a reference and resource, it will be valuable and relevant for a long time to come.

[Regulating How We Die] would be of value to anyone, lay person or professional, who is interested in a thorough analysis of the subject...[It] is well written and generally provides a solid background on the complex subject of physician-assisted suicide and whether it should be legalized in the United States at this time.

Linda Emanuel has become one of the outstanding thinkers in the physician-assisted suicide debate. She has brought to this book her skills as a clinician, as an astute observer, and as a thoughtful person in the field of medical ethics, and she has given us a wonderfully helpful, illuminating book. It will help us to know where we have come from, and where we ought to be going.

It is the intent of this valuable collection of essays to consider every aspect of today's heated controversies over euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, and to do it with fairness and clarity. That such a wide-ranging and inherently difficult mission has been so remarkably well-accomplished is due to the unparalleled breadth of knowledge and wisdom brought to it by the panel of highly respected bioethical scholars whose views are presented here. Linda Emanuel deserves the thanks of all of us, for providing what is at once a guide, a sourcebook, and a model of good writing.