Book Reviews and More: 20 Answers End of Life Issues - Jason Negri

20 Answers End of Life Issues
20 Answers Series from Catholic Answers
Jason Negri
Catholic Answers Press
ISBN 9781938983962
eISBN 9781938983986
ASIN B01HDW0TCG

Out of the 10 books in the 20 Answers series that I have read, this might be the hardest to date. I made a commitment to do the 20 Answers Challenge from Catholic Answers Series, a commitment to read the 20 books in the series over lent. During lent this year you can get all 20 books for 50% off, an amazing deal, and you still have time to get them! This book was hard to read for many reasons, staying atop of the news in Europe, and in Canada, and the changes in attitudes to medical care and saving money by encouraging exit strategies for people, just made this book a very hard read. But one that was really worth taking the time and effort to work through.

Jason is a lawyer by day and that clear concise, and direct approach that you would expect from a lawyer is clearly evident in his writing. In this book he tackles End of Life Issues and the specific 20 questions that he answers are:

1. What is the difference between euthanasia and assisted suicide?
2. Since suicide isn't against the law anymore, why should it be illegal to help someone commit suicide?
3. What about freedom of choice? If someone finds life intolerable, why shouldn't he be allowed to kill himself-even if it means getting someone to help?
4. Be reasonable! Some people are just lying there in a completely vegetative state. Shouldn't we just put them out of their misery?
5. What are some of the reasons that conscious and competent people give for wanting doctor-prescribed suicide?
6. But what if a person is in unbearable pain?
7. What if someone is already dying? What's the problem with just speeding up the inevitable?
8. Isn't your opposition to physician-assisted suicide based just on your religious beliefs?
9. PAS and euthanasia are already happening. So why not legalize them?
10. The cost of medical care for the very old and ill can be a tremendous burden. Isn't PAS a solution?
11. At what point should medical treatment be removed from a patient? Do I have to be kept alive by machines?
12. What about a feeding tube? Is there a different standard for deciding to withdraw that treatment?
13. I've heard the term "palliative care" in the context of end-of-life issues. What is it?
14. What is "elder abuse," and how does it factor into this debate?
15. Is there anything I can do now to make sure rights and wishes are respected in end-of-life situations?
16. I have heard about a new type of advance directive called a POLST. Is this a good idea?
17. What are the best arguments against PAS that both religious and non-religious people can agree on?
18. What is the legal status of assisted suicide in the United States right now?
19. What about euthanasia?
20. What practical things should I be doing to prepare for my own death?

In the introduction Jason states: "And yet death is the only certainty. Regardless of the worldly distractions with which we surround ourselves, regardless of our health, wealth, connections, or beliefs, regardless of whether we are ready for it, all of us will someday pass from this life. However unpleasant it may be, we ought to give this ultimate topic some attention-particularly at this moment in time, when controversies over euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, and the rights of the sick and disabled have reached a crossroads." And that this booklet is just a starting point. All of these questions cannot be answered in 60 pages. But the conversation can begin. Jason begins by defining the terms, "Euthanasia means intentionally, knowingly, and directly acting to cause the death of another person-for example, giving him a lethal injection. Assisted suicide is defined as intentionally, knowingly, and directly providing the means by which another person commits suicide-such as giving him a prescription for a lethal dose of drugs. In both cases, the act is done ostensibly to relieve a patient's suffering." But from some of the stories in this book and from the news in Europe it is important to add that euthanasia can further be broken down into two types, with the patients consent and without, or as Jason puts in voluntary and involuntary.

There have been recent news stories about forced euthanasia, by doctors at the family's request to save on medical costs. Reading this book brings home a very bleak reality in the world we live in today. But it also offers hope in the Catholic's value on life, and all life; and also in finding that balance between valuing life, and accepting death as a part of the process.

So far this was the hardest book in the 20 Answers Series to read, and because of that maybe one of the most important for us to read. Now some of the legal ramifications and precautions Jason writes about are geared to Americans, but as a Canadian it was easy to do some quick searches and find our relevant or similar information. This is a great series and this is a very relevant book in this day and age.

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2017 Catholic Reading Plan!

Note 2: Lent 2017 this is an amazing series of books is being offered at a 50% discount through the end of Lent 2017. But the challenge is to read the 20 books in the 20 Answers series over Lent. That is right you can get all 20 physical books or all 20 eBooks for just $34.95! If you want a way to go deeper this Lent give this series a try! #20AnswersChallenge

20 Answers: Relics & Sacramentals - Shaun McAfee

20 Answers: The Communion of Saints - Karlo Broussard

20 Answers Eastern Catholicism - Father Daniel Dozier

20 Answers Anti-Catholic Myths - Jimmy Akin

20 Answers The End Times - Jimmy Akin

20 Answers The Rosary - Tom Nash

20 Answers Seasons & Feasts – Michelle Arnold

20 Answers New Age - Michelle Arnold

20 Answers Catholic Social Teaching – Mark Brumley

20 Answers Prayer – Hugh Barbour O. Praem and Sebastian Walshe O. Praem

20 Answers Faith & Reason – Christopher Kaczor

20 Answers The New Testament – Jimmy Akin

20 Answers Protestantism – Jimmy Akin

20 Answers Marriage & Sex – Todd Aglialoro

20 Answers The Early Church – Jim Blackburn

20 Answers The Old Testament – Jimmy Akin

20 Answers Judaism – Michelle Arnold

20 Answers The Sacraments – Father Mike Driscoll

20 Answers St Thomas Aquinas - Dr. Kevin Vost

...

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