Denial of the Soul: Spiritual and Medical Perspectives on Euthanasia and Mortality

In Denial of the Soul, Dr. Peck differentiates the many situations that euthanasia is currently and commonly used to describe and offers new definitions that clarify its meaning. He rails against the inadequate treatment of physical pain and gives sensible medical and spiritual perspectives on chronic and terminal emotional and physical pain and illness. Denial of the Soul grapples with the deeper meanings of life, death, suicide, and euthanasia and asks whether we have the ethical right to kill ourselves even though we have the power. Through compelling stories from Dr. Peck's own experiences as a physician as well as from other medical cases in which some form of euthanasia was either practiced or considered, he explores the core issues that should arise when people face the question of euthanasia for themselves, their loved ones, or society: How does taking a life differ from allowing death? Whose consent does euthanasia require: the patient's, the family's, or the government's? When does physical or emotional pain become grounds for euthanasia? What can we learn from the process of dying a natural death?