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A Good Death

An Argument for Voluntary Euthanasia

Rodney Syme

Pamela Bone

Rodney Syme's candid and controversial account of the terminally ill people who he has assisted to end their lives.

Opinion

‘a powerful and deeply moving contribution to a subject that no one can afford to ignore.’ - The Age 24/5/08

‘This is a courageous book, written without sentiment or attempts to bias or convert the reader to a particular belief system. Syme's book is searingly honest, particularly in its descriptions of patients with chronic, intractable pain. But it is neither depressing nor sad, simply offering the truth about death and the ways some individuals choose to meet it.’ Courier Mail 17.5.08

‘A powerful and deeply moving contribution to a subject that no one can afford to ignore.’
The Age 26/5/2008

About this Title

A Good Death is his candid and provocative account of the experiences of many terminally ill people Dr Rodney Syme has assisted to end their lives. Over the past thirty years Syme has challenged the law on voluntary euthanasia-at first clandestinely and now publicly-risking prosecution in doing so. He again risks prosecution for writing this book.

A Good Death is a moving journey with those who came to Syme for help, and a meditation on what it means in our culture to confront death. It is also a doctor's personal story about the moral dilemmas and ethical choices he faces working within the grey areas of the law.

In this important book, Rodney Syme argues for the end of the unofficial 'conspiracy' of silence within the medical profession and the decriminalisation of voluntary euthanasia in Australia. Through Syme's determination to tell the stories of those who he has assisted to die with dignity, A Good Death also draws wider lessons of value for those who find themselves in a similar situation.

About the Author

Rodney Syme has been in medical practice for forty-five years, primarily as a urological surgeon. He was Chair of the Victorian Section of the Urological Society of Australasia in 1990-92, and chair of the Urology Study Group of the Cancer Council of Victoria in 1992-94. He has had extensive experience with cancer patients and with people with severe spinal injuries. He has been an advocate for physician-assisted dying for nearly twenty years, and the President of the Dying With Dignity Victoria for ten years.

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978-0-522-85503-6