Depression and the Soul: A Guide to Spiritually Integrated Treatment, by J. R. Peteet

Abstract

Book Reviews 371 new police officers a pistol despite the fact their error rate using a T.A.S.E.R. in police officer training was 25%. If physicians have not yet demonstrated that they can ensure access to quality palliative and end-of-life care for all members of society fairly, equally, and compassionately, how can we in good conscience advocate putting those same physicians in charge of deciding which patients should be "assisted" toward what Battin and Quill chillingly refer to as "an earlier, easier death"?Physician-Assisted Dying: The Case for Palliative Care and Patient Choice is thought-provoking-disturbingly so. Reading this book forever disabused me of the notion that "physician-assisted dying" might have a place in the health care system. Regarding the dangers inherent in legalizing physician-assisted dying, the words of historian and moralist John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton come immediately to mind: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Until we have a health care delivery system that ensures equal access to high-quality hospice and palliative care for all who need it, we would be unwise to put the power of life and death-literally-in the hands of physicians.