ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book has presented a number of theoretical and empirical articles on the topic of euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, and suicide. It has examined the first extended data available in America-in-depth analysis of Dr. Kevorkian's first forty-seven acknowledged suicides-in terms of biological versus psychosocial factors. In addition, the book has presented some preliminary work on seven cases of physician-assisted suicide in Australia. In one of the most striking findings regarding the Kevorkian patients, similar proportions of men and women report pain. Despite the flamboyant nature of Kevorkian, people going to him and Reding to seek physician-assisted suicide may not be so different from those seeking this same solution in the Netherlands, in the northern provinces of Australia, and in Oregon.
