Why You Shouldn't Kill Yourself

Suicide, for years, has been a public health crisis in the Western world. Yet more and more states and countries are allowing physician assisted suicide or euthanasia. Have you wondered whether it is actually wrong to end your life if you are mortally ill? Susan Windley-Daoust engages in an extended discussion with a game dialogue partner who thinks that there are five good reasons to employ physician-assisted suicide--and proves those common reasons (or tricks of the heart) may be well-intended, but make no moral or spiritual sense. She argues that PAS is based in medical ignorance, a utilitarian understanding of the human, and a spiritual vacuum--and the Christian Church needs to engage these realities quickly and directly by recovering the art of dying well. This book is written to all those considering the issue, from those considering PAS as an option in their own lives, to those called upon to vote on the legality of PAS in their states, to those who minister to the dying. Why You Shouldn't Kill Yourself, by Susan Windley-Daoust is a masterful resource that unmasks five tricks of the heart often used to promote assisted suicide as compassionate care for terminally ill persons. With a deep awareness of the power of secularization to shape moral thinking, attention is given to promoting true compassion by palliative care that can prevent unnecessary suffering, and promote relationship building, prayer, and renewed appreciation of natural death. This book is a must-read for those giving pastoral care to persons and families facing end-of-life issues. --John M. Quinn, Bishop of Winona, Minnesota Both sides in the euthanasia debate claim to have love and compassion on their side, with blockbuster tear-jerking movies driving home the notion that to kill is compassionate. This book is the perfect antidote to that onslaught. Just under the surface of the various formulations ('tricks of the heart') of the request to be killed lies a deep yearning for love and accompaniment felt by the vulnerable. In a kind-hearted, down to earth, conversational way, Windley-Daoust brings this yearning to the surface, dissolving the 'tricks' and kindling genuine love via clear understanding. --Peter J. Colosi, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Salve Regina University Susan Windley-Daoust is Associate Professor and Chair of Theology at Saint Mary's University of Minnesota. She is the author of Theology of the Body, Extended: The Spiritual Signs of Birth, Impairment, and Dying (2014), and The Gift of Birth: Discerning God's Presence in Childbirth (2015), and numerous articles.