Books
Advice for Future Corpses
(and Those Who Love Them)
A Practical Perspective on Death and Dying
by Sallie Tisdale
Beautifully written and compulsively readable, Advice for Future Corpses offers the resources and reassurance that we all need for planning the ends of our lives, and is essential reading for future corpses everywhere. Read our Book Review.
Find it at your library or For more information and to order it online.
The VSED Handbook
A Practical Guide to Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking
Author: Kate Christie
A combination instructional manual/personal memoir, The VSED Handbook provides detailed instructions for planning and carrying out VSED while offering glimpses into one family’s experiences with the process. Nancy Simmers, co-founder and current Coordinator of VSED Resources Northwest, wrote the foreword for the book, which she describes as “a worthy guidebook for contemplating your own end-of-life choices.”
To order a copy of The VSED Handbook, visit the VRNW Reading List page or buy directly from Amazon.
Medical Aid In Dying
A Guide For Patients and Their Supporters
By: Lonny Shavelson, MD, American Clinicians Academy on Medical Aid in Dying
Medical Aid in Dying: A Guide for Patients and Their Supporters, originated from the questions, interests, and needs of dying patients, their families, their loved ones, and the many others who support them. Its goal is to demystify and facilitate the process of medical aid in dying.
Available through Amazon for Kindle or as a Paperback.
For PDF (not formatted for home printing, but can be read online or downloaded), click here.
(For bulk orders, contact the Academy at ACAMAID@ACAMAID.org
Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking
A Compassionate, Widely Available Option for Hastening Death
Edited by Timothy E. Quill, Paul T. Menzel, Thaddeus Pope, and Judith K. Schwarz
Presents a detailed and highly accessible discussion of VSED, including eight real cases, that will appeal to the public as well as to medical, legal, and bioethics scholars
Find it at your library or for more information and to order it online.
Endnotes
Live Well, Age Well, Die Well
by The Peaceful Presence Project
This beautiful and helpful booklet was designed by a group out of Oregon that does end-of-life counseling, The Peaceful Presence Project. It provides a roadmap and a heartfelt keepsake for the survivors left behind by a death.
Choosing to Die
A Personal Story
by Phyllis Shacter
Phyllis Shacter courageously shares the first personal story ever written about VSED (voluntarily stopping eating and drinking). This memoir and guidebook follows the journey she took with her husband, Alan, once he decided to VSED so he didn’t have to live into the late stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Please also visit The VSED Choice for more information about his journey.
When My Time Comes
Conversations about whether those who are dying should have the right to determine when life should end
by Diane Rehm
From Diane Rehm, renowned radio host–one of the most trusted voices in the nation–and best-selling author: a book of candor and compassion, addressing the urgent, hotly contested cause of the Right-to-Die movement, of which she is one of our most inspiring champions. Read our book review here.
Find it at your library or listen to her interview on WAMU.
Choosing to Live, Choosing to Die
The Complexities of Assisted Dying
by Nikki Tate
With many jurisdictions considering whether or not to implement new assisted-death legislation, Choosing to Live, Choosing to Die is a timely look at the subject for teen readers who may not yet have had much experience with death and dying.
Find it at your library or order it online.
That Good Night: Life and Medicine in the Eleventh Hour
by Sunita Puri
That Good Night: Life and Medicine in the Eleventh Hour describes how we step into this intersection gracefully. The author, Dr. Sunita Puri, is an assistant professor of clinical medicine at the University of Southern California and the medical director of palliative medicine at Keck Hospital and the Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, in Los Angeles. This book is the story of Dr. Puri’s journey to palliative medicine; she takes us along.
Find it at your library or for more information and to order it online.
A Beginner’s Guide to the End: Practical Advice for Living Life and Facing Death
by BJ Miller, MD and Shoshana Berger
This is a practical, compassionate, and comprehensive guide to dying—and living fully until you do.
“There is nothing wrong with you for dying,” palliative care doctor B.J. Miller and Shoshana Berger write in A Beginner’s Guide to the End. “Our ultimate purpose here isn’t so much to help you die as it is to free up as much life as possible until you do.”
Dying Unafraid
by Fran Moreland Johns
Dying Unafraid tells inspired stories of individuals who faced death without fear, offering hope and encouragement to those about them. It is written for the lay reader by a veteran storyteller/reporter who herself has long experience working with the terminally ill. Tough questions of the day such as the issues of self-deliverance and physician-hastened death, as well as what rights individuals have in retaining control over their own lives when those lives are ending are addressed through the stories of individuals who have confronted those issues.
The Art of Dying Well – A practical Guide to a Good End of Life
by Katy Butler
From goodreads: “This down-to-earth manual for living, aging, and dying with meaning and even joy is based on Butler’s own experience caring for aging parents, as well as hundreds of interviews with people who have successfully navigated a fragmented health system and helped their loved ones have good deaths. It also draws on interviews with nationally recognized experts in family medicine, palliative care, geriatrics, oncology, hospice, and other medical specialties. Inspired by the medieval death manual Ars Moriendi, or the Art of Dying, The Art of Dying Well is the definitive update for our modern age, and illuminates the path to a better end of life.”
The Four Things That Matter Most – A Book About Living
by Ira Byock
Four simple phrases that carry enormous power, especially at the end of life
Find it at your library or order it online.
Can’t We Talk About Something More PLEASANT?
by Roz Chast
New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast brings her signature wit to the topic of aging
Find it at your library. To learn more about the author or to order it online.
A Better Way of Dying – How to Make the Best Choices at the End of Life
by Jeanne & Eileen Fitzpatrick
Find it at your library or for more information or to order online.
Being Mortal – Medicine and What Matters in the End
by Atul Gawande, MD, MPH
Addresses the current state of care about age-related frailty, serious illness, and impending death.
Find it at your library or order it online.
Die Wise – A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul
by Stephen Jenkinson
Find it at your library or order it online.
When Breath Becomes Air
by Paul Kalanathi
A memoir of life and illness, battling stage IV metastasized lung cancer. Published posthumously. Foreword by Abraham Verghese
Find it at your library or For more information and to order online.
Finish Strong – Putting Your Priorities First at Life’s End
by Barbara Coombs Lee
Find it at your library or For more information and to order it online.
Talking About Death Won’t Kill You
by Virginia Morris
Talks about our reluctance to have candid discussions about death and dying while we are young and healthy causes very difficult situations when the end does draw near.
Find it at your library or order it online.
How we Die – Reflections on Life’s Final Chapter
by Sherwin Nuland
Attempts to demythologize the process of dying. The author explores how we shall die, each of us in a way that will be unique.
Find it at your library or For more information and to order it online.
“Thank you for everything these past few weeks. From your wise and informed counsel to your emotional support - I can’t tell you how much I appreciate everything you’ve done for my family.” B.Y.
