Non-fiction

Led by advocates of "the right to die" such as Jack Kevorkian and Derek Humphrey, America is embroiled in a heated debate over assisted suicide. Wesley Smith argues that this is not just a compassionate response to those in terrible pain. Instead, Americans must consider the context within which euthanasia would be performed -- the profit-driven U.S. health-care system -- and the inevitable shift toward a policy of legalized killing that will target the handicapped, the mentally ill, and the poor.

Forced Exit reveals the horrors of the Netherlands, where 8.5% of all deaths are attributed to assisted suicide and where Dutch doctors have rapidly moved from euthanizing the terminally ill, to the chronically ill, to the depressed with no organic disease, to killing infants born with birth defects.

Smith reveals positive alternatives: easy access to hospice care for the dying, effective pain control, and independent living for the disabled. And he profiles people who have considered suicide the only choice, but after receiving proper care and assistance have gone on to lead full and satisfying lives.