Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia offers thoughtful reflections of a group of scholars and palliative care physicians on involuntary euthanasia of “defective” persons, a concept that was endorsed by a large percentage of physicians in the Third Reich. While they are mostly successful in distinguishing this eugenics-based practice from contemporary PAD, some envision a slippery slope by which safeguards will decrease and nonautonomous persons will qualify for PAD in their own “best interest.” This is a stimulating, but sobering, book.

Pharos

This is, at once, both a deeply engaging and deeply unsettling book. It is a rigorous and nuanced exploration of the complex topic of contemporary physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia as seen through the shadow of the Holocaust. It forces the reader to account for the dignity of the person and what it means to be human. This important book will long be discussed.

Michael A Grodin, Boston University

Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia: Before, During, and After the Holocaust is an erudite and timely volume that refracts the history of state-sponsored killing during the Third Reich against the contemporary debate over euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. Rubenfeld and Sulmasy are to be commended for bringing together a stellar group of European and American scholars on both sides of the issue. Collectively they draw upon their expertise in the history of medicine, medical ethics, philosophy, and palliative care to inform and elevate the debate beyond the usual polemics. This brilliant anthology constitutes an enduring contribution to the literature.

Joseph J. Fins, M.D., Chief Division of Medical Ethics, Weill Cornell Medical College, and author of A Palliative Ethic of Care: Clinical Wisdom at L

What lessons does the Nazi experience of euthanasia and eugenics have for the contemporary debate about legalizing so-called 'physician-assisted dying'? As this timely, valuable and disturbing book shows, more than many might think.

John Keown, Georgetown University