The Day I Die, Dr. Anita Hannig
The Day I Die, Dr. Anita Hannig
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The Day I Die
The Untold Story of Assisted Dying in America

Author: Dr. Anita Hannig

Narrator: Linda Jones

Unabridged: 7 hr 33 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/17/2022

Categories: Nonfiction, Medical


Synopsis

In this groundbreaking book, Anita Hannig brings us into the lives of ordinary Americans who go to extraordinary lengths to set the terms of their own death. Faced with a terminal diagnosis and unbearable suffering, they decide to seek medical assistance in dying—a legal option now available to one in five Americans.

Drawing on five years of research on the frontlines of assisted dying, Hannig unearths the uniquely personal narratives masked by a polarized national debate. Among them are Ken, a ninety-year-old blues musician who invites his family to his death, dons his best clothes, and goes out singing; Derianna, a retired nurse and midwife who treks through Oregon and Washington to guide dying patients across life's threshold; and Bruce, a scrappy activist with Parkinson's disease who fights to expand access to the law, not knowing he would soon, in an unexpected twist of fate, become eligible himself.

The Day I Die tackles one of the most urgent social issues of our time: how to restore dignity and meaning to the dying process in the age of high-tech medicine. Meticulously researched and compassionately rendered, the book exposes the legal restrictions, barriers to access, and corrosive cultural stigma that can undermine someone's quest for an assisted death—and why they persist in achieving the departure they desire.

About Dr. Anita Hannig

Anita Hannig is associate professor of anthropology at Brandeis University, where she teaches classes on medicine, religion, gender, and death and dying. She is also the author of Beyond Surgery: Injury, Healing, and Religion at an Ethiopian Hospital.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Lenora

I was 19 years old in 1972 when I watched “An Inalienable Right to Die.” It was the ninth episode of the fourth season of The Bold Ones: The New Doctors tv series. I have been a proponent of the individual right to die since then. Not just the right to die, but if wanted, medical assistance. (I am a......more

Goodreads review by Vivi

Such an informative read and definitely a topic that is so controversial here in the US. I appreciate that the author followed many different folks through their journeys with "Dying with Dignity" as well as followed the volunteers who help the people seeking this and their families during a difficu......more

The Day I Die is an extremely intimate and vulnerable look into why one may elect to end one’s own life via a medically assisted death. Through her evidently extensive research, Hannig brings life to policy and communicates the value in emically understanding those directly impacted by medically ass......more

Goodreads review by Marina

The Day I Die provides a raw, honest, and compassionate exploration of assisted dying. Hannig discusses topics that are often taboo, intimidating, and uncomfortable, creating space for important conversations about death and dying that we tend to avoid. While books like Being Mortal and When Breath......more