When My Time Comes

December 1, 2019
In a companion to a TV documentary, the longtime NPR host and podcaster interviews terminally ill patients and others about end-of-life choices. One in five Americans lives in a jurisdiction that allows terminally ill adults to request "medical aid in dying," the term many experts prefer to "assisted suicide." Rehm (On My Own, 2016, etc.) became a champion of the swiftly growing right-to-die movement after her first husband, ravaged by Parkinson's disease, begged doctors in vain for help ending his life. In the gently probing interviews collected here, the author discusses the pros and cons with people who have seen the effects at close range: patients, relatives, physicians, clergy, hospice administrators, and others. An African Methodist Episcopal pastor explains why he opposed the death-with-dignity law in Washington, D.C., given its potential for use against blacks. Dan Diaz recalls the upheavals his wife, Brittany, faced when they moved to Oregon so she could end her life after a diagnosis of terminal cancer; amid the devastating news, she had to find a house to rent and get a new driver's license and voter registration card to establish residency. Other interviews in the book, which features a foreword by John Grisham, focus on a variety of relevant questions: Who qualifies for medical aid in dying? What life-ending medicines do doctors prescribe? How long does it take to die after you ingest them? Several contributors give similar answers to the same question, which at times grows repetitious but suggests the variations around the country. For gravely ill patients, a vital point is that securing aid in dying involves paperwork, a waiting period, and finding two doctors willing to help. These safeguards can have heartbreaking results for anyone who puts off making a decision. The approval process takes an average of about one month, notes the president of the group Compassion & Choices, "and about half the people die before that." Thoughtful conversations with friends and foes of the death-with-dignity movement.

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December 9, 2019
Former NPR host Rehm talks with individuals in support of and opposed to the right to die movement in this moving and candid interview collection. Rehm lost her husband to Parkinson’s disease and writes eloquently of the agony he experienced in his final days. Her interview subjects include doctors, palliative caregivers, the terminally ill, and those whose loved ones have succumbed to terminal illnesses. She speaks to a hospice spiritual care director about how to discuss end-of-life care with one’s family. Dan Diaz, whose cancer-stricken wife, Brittany Maynard, gained media attention in 2014 when she moved from California to Oregon to take advantage of the state’s Death with Dignity Act, recounts the story of being by her side when she died. While most interview subjects are in favor of the right to die, Rehm interviews a doctor who suggests that patients seeking death might be in “spiritual or existential distress,” in which case counseling is in order, and speaks with a Roman Catholic priest about the Church’s official position against medical aid in dying. Rehm and her subjects offer practical information, nuanced perspectives, and poignant stories of peaceful final moments achieved through end-of-life care. Readers faced with similar decisions will cherish this thoughtful account.

February 1, 2020

Published as a companion work to a film documentary, this collection of enlightening interviews by former NPR host Rehm (The Diane Rehm Show) provides insight into end-of-life care in the United States. Like Rehm herself, who movingly recounts her husband's experiences at the end of his life, interview subjects share personal values and beliefs on the subject of dying well. These open conversations with patients and their relatives, along with advocates, doctors, caregivers, and spiritual counselors include profound arguments both for and against medical assistance in dying. Rehm also touches on specific information regarding state-based eligibility rules. Readers are introduced to organizations and support groups that can assist with discussion, preparation, decision making, and navigating legal paperwork. The work concludes with an interview with Rehm's grandson, which provides a model for establishing end-of-life instructions for when the time comes. For research purposes, an index would have been a useful addition. VERDICT Rehm definitively accomplishes her goal of spurring conversation about end-of-life care with these balanced, thoughtful discussions of a difficult but vital topic. [See Prepub Alert, 8/12/19.]--Theresa Muraski, Univ. of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Lib.

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January 1, 2020
An NPR veteran who now hosts the weekly podcast On My Mind, which is also the title of her 2016 memoir, Rehm crusades for patients' right to die. She watched her mother, a nondrinker, suffer and die from cirrhosis; and her husband, struggling with Parkinson's disease, started turning away medicine and food and died nine days later. Author John Grisham, a guest on Rehm's show, presents a strong foreword about why he believes it's immoral to keep people alive if they're brain dead, clinically dead, or reliant on machines. The rest of the book consists of Rehm's interviews with other people in the right-to-die movement. Her queries can read like essays. In one exchange, she quotes a passage from Ann Morrow Lindbergh, who asked her family and friends to let her die alone if there is no reasonable expectation of my recovery from mental or physical disability; she didn't want artificial means or heroic measures to be taken. Readers will be coaxed to think about matters of life and death, and to finally write that living will.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)