The Good Death is the first full-scale and most evenhanded examination of one of the most complex issues facing Americans today. Compellingly and compassionately written, it is based on more than six years of firsthand research and reporting by a leading investigative journalist. It brings fully to life the medical, legal, and ethical controversies that surround end-of-life care, showing exactly how they affect individuals and families.

It also explores the psychological and spiritual realities that are at the heart of our longing for "death with dignity.".

Marilyn Webb combines a journalist's objectivity with a passionate advocacy for people in pain. Building her account around intimate portraits of the dying themselves, she also introduces us to leading doctors, hospice workers and medical ethicists, legal experts and pain specialists, advocates of assisted suicide - and their determined opponents.

She explains why some deaths become shockingly difficult - including the refusal of many physicians to prescribe legal pain relief, and the struggles over end-of-life, decisions that pit patient and family against medical institutions, insurance companies, religious groups, and government.

But there is abundant good news as well. Webb describes many extraordinary programs and visionary individuals who are changing the face of dying. The essential elements of a humane - even uplifted - death are available to all of us, if we know what is possible, where to go for help, and how to prepare. The Good Death is both a blueprint for change and a book of comfort and hope for everyone concerned about dying.