Unplugged: Reclaiming Our Right to Die in America, by Bill Colby

My friend Bill Colby, who represented Nancy Cruzan’s family and is the author of Long Goodbye:   The Deaths of Nancy Cruzan, has new book coming out later this month.  Bill is a currently a fellow at the National  Hopstice and Palliative Care Organization.  Here’s a review of Unplugged: Reclaiming Our Right to Die in America:

Medical technology has helped mankind conquer tuberculosis, polio, andcountless other once certain-death diseases. It has given us hopeagainst cancer and AIDS, allowed heart and brain surgeries that havesaved untold numbers of lives, and delivered us from the pain andcrippling legacy of injury. Medical technology, it seems, is anever-ending string of miracles.

But it is also a double-edged sword. More often than not, death todayhappens because of a decision to stop doing something, or to not do itat all. As the tragic life and death of Terri Schiavo so poignantlyillustrated, universal definitions of life, death, nature, and manyother concepts are elusive at best. Unplugged addresses the fundamentalquestions of the right-to-die debate, and discusses how the medicaladvances that bring so much hope and healing have also helped to createtoday’s dilemma.

This compelling book explores recent high-profile cases, including thatof Mrs. Schiavo, and illuminates the complex legal, ethical, medical,and deeply personal issues of a debate that ultimately affects us all.Compassionate and beautifully written, the book helps readersunderstand the implications of current laws and proposed legislation,various medical options (including hospice), and the typicalend-of-life decisions we all must face in order to make informeddecisions for ourselves and our loved ones.

Hardcover: 256 Pages.

Order it here.