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.
As Humphry writes, "It would be far more preferable to legalize
medically assisted suicide for terminally ill adults, for it is a
tremendous strain and risk put on families." To know why he has
maintained this struggle for choice in dying, against powerful religious
and political forces it is necessary to understand the whole man. In
Good Life, Good Death, readers will appreciate the fight he has
gone through so that others might consider the option of dying with
dignity.
