Reference Reviews

Reference for Students

Euthanasia. By Mitchell Young. Detroit, Mich.: Greenhaven Press Thomson Gale, 2007. 1 vol. 182 p. $36.20. ISBN 10: 0-7377-2789-6; 13: 978-0-7377-2789-6.

Students asked to debate euthanasia can approach it from several points of view: medical, financial, religious, moral, or legal. This volume focuses on the legal issues in terms of four cases and gives some resulting discussion including dissenting opinions from the Supreme Court. The religious aspects and moral issues are brought up in relation to the legal findings. Chapter 1, "Testing the Limits of Assisted-Suicide Laws," covers People of Michigan v. Jack Kevorkian (1994); Chapter 2 includes "Upholding the State's Right to Ban Assisted Suicide," with Washington v. Glucksberg (1997). "The Schiavo Case Highlights Divisions over the Right to Die" includes The Guardianship of Theresa Marie Schiavo (2000) and the controversy which became a political issue while Chapter 4, "Upholding Physician-Assisted Suicide in Oregon" includes Gonzales (formerly Ashcroft) v. Oregon (2006). This is not an easy topic to debate, but this volume will help explain this issue in the U.S. today.