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Title:
Good life, good death : the memoir of a right to die pioneer / Derek Humphry.
Author:
Humphry, Derek, 1930- author.
Publication Information:
New York, NY : Carrel Books, [2017]

©2017
Call Number:
PN4874.H86 A3 2017
Abstract:
"For nearly four decades, Derek Humphry has blazed a trail for the right-to-die movement. He founded the Hemlock Society, pioneered Oregon's Death with Dignity Act, and wrote the bestselling books Final Exit (more than one million copies sold, and a New York Times bestseller for eighteen weeks) and Jean's Way (UK bestseller). But before his wife's terminal illness ravaged his life, Humphry was a successful journalist. In Good Life, Good Death , readers will learn how the twists and turns of fate led him to his life's purpose. In his poignant memoir, Derek tells of his broken family, his wartime experiences as a boy in England, and rising to the highest rungs of journalism on two continents. In 1975, he lived with crippling fear and sadness when his beloved wife, Jean, was diagnosed with cancer. As the disease gradually spread, they both decided that rather than let a terminal illness run its course through extreme physical and emotional pain, Jean would end her own life on her own terms, at an agreed upon time and manner, arranging her own last days. Readers will witness the personal pain and emotional distress they endured, as well as the legal repercussions Derek faced following her death."--Dust jacket.
ISBN:
9781631440663
Physical Description:
xxii, 256 pages, 4 pages of unnumbered plates : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm
Contents:
Foreword / by Stephen Jamison -- Introduction: Life after death -- A shaky start -- Runaway -- Getting to the truth -- Acquiring home and family -- A curious reunion -- Reporter at large -- World's greatest paper -- Terminal illness -- Jean's way of dying -- Off to California -- A book's inspiration -- A horrible year -- To see yourself as others see you -- Enter "final exit" -- What happened to Mother? -- Divorce wars -- Farewell to Hemlock -- Kevorkian and me -- Where we are now -- Appendix.
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