When Is It Right to Die?: A Comforting and Surprising Look at Death and Dying

More and more people who are terminally ill are choosing assisted suicide. When is it Right to Die? offers a different path with alternatives of hope, compassion, and death with real dignity.

Joni Eareckson Tada knows what it means to wrestle with this issue and to wish for a painless solution. For the last 50 years she has been confined to a wheelchair and struggled against her own paralysis. And she sat by the bedside of her dying father, thinking, So much suffering, why not end it all quickly, painlessly?

The terminally ill, the elderly, the disabled, the depressed and suicidal, can all be swept up into this movement of self-deliverance. Skip the suffering. Put a quick end to merciless pain and mental anguish. These are tempting enticements to the hurting. Joni doesn't give pat answers. Instead, she gives warm comfort from God and practical help to meet the realities for those facing death.

When Is It Right to Die? tells the stories of families who have wrestled with end-of-life questions and found that death with dignity does not necessarily mean three grams of Phenobarbital in the veins. Behind every right-to-die situation is a family. A family like yours. In her warm, personal way, Joni takes the reader into the lives of families and lets them speak about assisted suicide. What they say is surprising.

Whether you have a dying family member, facing moral and medical choices, or struggling with a chronic condition that feels overwhelming, this book will help you find practical encouragement and biblical advice to help you make difficult decisions.

This book is revised and updated to examine the current events, trending issues, and the rising acceptance of assisted suicide in this country.

Joni Eareckson Tada is founder and CEO of Joni and Friends, an organization that communicates the gospel and mobilizes the global church to evangelize, disciple, and serve people living with disability. Joni is the author of numerous bestselling books, including When God Weeps, Diamonds in the Dust, and her latest award-winning devotional, A Spectacle of Glory. Joni and her husband, Ken, were married in 1982. For more information on Joni and Friends, visit www.joniandfriends.org.