内容简介
事实证明，自杀比想象中困难得多。
资深记者凯蒂·恩格尔哈特历时四年，跟踪访谈数百位不想活下去的人。他们或因疾病、或因衰老、或因难以忍受的精神痛苦…当生命注定无法好好地活，他们只求能好好死去。
然而重病之人往往很难独立终结自己的生命，有人冒险订购非法的致死药物；有人倾尽家产远赴“死亡诊所”；还有人甚至已经无法自主选择，只能依靠亲属做出可能符合自己心愿的决定……种种自杀困境使辅助自杀合法化的呼声日渐高涨，支持者强调免遭病痛折磨的渴望，认为这关系到自主权，关系到尊严。反对者担心允许协助死亡的法律只要存在，就会在道德伦理方面造成滑坡效应，最终裹挟所有病患，滥用在穷人、自身并不情愿的人、妥协了的人、感到害怕的人身上。
在这场关于死亡的辩论中，作者重点关注了六个人的故事，他们代表着不同立场：当事人、协助者……人生中无法避免的这最后一件事情，决定权在本人、家属、还是医生、法律或命运？
这份特别报道对这个关乎伦理与权利的主题进行了深入的探讨和无畏的审视，它向读者介绍了那些在生命的最后时刻努力寻找尊严与真实的普通人。
作者简介
凯蒂·恩格尔哈特（Katie Engelhart）是一名记者和纪录片制片人，来自多伦多，现居纽约。恩格尔哈特毕业于牛津大学历史和哲学专业，曾在加拿大《麦克林杂志》和纽约的NBC（美国国家广播公司）担任记者。她的报道曾获得加拿大国家新闻奖、乔治·波尔克杂志报道奖。
Content introduction
Suicide, it turns out, is a lot harder than you think.
Veteran journalist Katie Engelhardt has spent four years following hundreds of people who don't want to live. They are suffering from illness, from old age, from unbearable mental pain... When life is not meant to be lived well, they just want to die well.
However, seriously ill people often find it difficult to end their own lives independently, and some risk ordering illegal lethal drugs; Some people go to "death clinics" without money. Some people are even unable to make their own choices, and can only rely on relatives to make decisions that may suit their wishes... The plight of suicide has led to a growing clamour to legalise assisted suicide, with supporters emphasising the desire to be free from suffering as a matter of autonomy and dignity. Opponents fear that laws allowing assisted dying, as long as they exist, will create a slippery slope of ethics that will eventually entrap all patients, abusing them for the poor, the unwilling, the compromised, the frightened.
In this debate about death, the author focuses on the stories of six people who represent different sides of the debate: the parties, the helpers... Is it up to me, my family, my doctor, the law, or fate to decide this last thing that is inevitable in life?
This special report is a deeply explored and fearless examination of this subject of ethics and rights, introducing readers to ordinary people who struggle to find dignity and authenticity in their final moments.
About the author
Katie Engelhart is a journalist and documentary filmmaker originally from Toronto, now based in New York. Engelhardt, a history and philosophy graduate of Oxford University, has worked as a reporter for Maclean's Magazine in Canada and for NBC in New York. Her reporting has won Canada's National Journalism Award and the George Polk Magazine Reporting Award.
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