Jason Warick; CBC News

A Good Death is a profile of Saskatoon artist Jeanette Lodoen before, during, and after her death by medical assistance in dying. She granted CBC News unrestricted access to herself and her family in her final days because she wanted to share what an assisted death is like with families, health professionals, and lawmakers.

Ana Estrada

From 2019 to 2024, the personal blog of the psychologist Ana Estrada, typed with the one finger she could move, became a focal point of the debate on assisted dying in Peru. A chronicle of Estrada’s life with polymyositis and in palliative care, the blog supported her successful appeal for the right to die, creating a legal precedent in her country and sparking discussion far beyond.

Wolfgang Herrndorf

After being diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour, Wolfgang Herrndorf began writing a blog in 2010, in which he reflected on how he coped with the illness. Published as a book in 2013 following his suicide by firearm, the text has been interpreted as a forceful advocacy for the right to assisted dying and has been cited in political debates as a powerful plea by supporters of its legalisation.

Catherine Porter

In this New York Times cover story, Catherine Porter recounts the assisted death of John Shields, an activist, environmentalist, and union leader from Vancouver Island. The article appeared shortly before the one-year anniversary of the legalization of medical assistance in dying in Canada and explores how assisted death impacts the rituals surrounding death.

John Hofsess

In this article, right to die activist John Hofsess reveals that he illegally helped eight people kill themselves from 1999 to 2001, including the Canadian poet Al Purdy. Hofsess portrays himself in a positive light, as a hero of the assisted suicide cause, but a 2022 article by journalist Sandra Martin casts doubt on both his character and motivations.

Carlos Framb

After assisting in his mother Luzmila Alzate’s death in 2007 and unsuccessfully attempting suicide, the poet Carlos Framb found himself accused of homicide. This memoir recounts Framb’s legal saga, his relationship with his mother, and defends the right-to-die in the context of Colombia, that had decriminalized euthanasia in 1997 but not yet created guidelines for assisted dying.

Danièle Saint-Bois

Following two extremely difficult years suffering with cancer, artist Alicia D. decides she wants to end her life. With the help of her doctor and a nurse, who is also a love interest, Alicia receives an actively hastened death, beyond the provisions of the 2005 Leonetti Law.

Cory Taylor

Written as Cory Taylor was dying, this memoir explores her relationship with death, her perspective on her family and childhood, and her wish, illegal in Australia at the time, that she could have an assisted death with her family present. Media coverage of the book focused on Taylor’s detailed argument for legalisation and her quietly confrontational confession about ordering Nembutal from China.

Marianne Brooker

Having lived with a progressive form of multiple sclerosis for ten years, Marianne Brooker’s mother voluntarily stopped eating and drinking, a legal approximation of assisted dying in the UK. Brooker’s long-form essay about her mother’s decision and her own experience caring for her at the end positions Brooker’s demand for assisted dying options within wider issues of social justice.

Vincent Humbert (with Frédéric Veille)

Following a life-changing accident, which left Vincent Humbert paraplegic, blind and mute, the young man decided that he wanted to end his life and wrote to the French President in search of help. This text is his story, one of the most significant in the history of the assisted dying debate in France.

Jean-Marie Lorand

This text is a published version of the diary kept by former journalist and parliamentary aide, turned assisted dying activist, Jean-Marie Lorand during the last months of his life. Lorand was an influential figure in public debate and his testimony was shared during the hearings in the Belgian Senate prior to the introduction of the country’s Act on Euthanasia (2002).

Sofía Almiroty

In Sofía Almiroty’s debut novel, Ariana takes her grandmother Rosa, whose skin is ravaged by a rare cancer, to say goodbye to the town where Rosa grew up; they hope to have enough morphine to keep the pain at bay. Set in Argentina, the novel was published in Spain, where assisted dying has been legal since 2021 – as opposed to Argentina, where it remains a crime.

Wolfgang Prosinger

51-year-old Ulrich Tanner, who lived in Cologne, suffered from various incurable diseases and took his own life in Switzerland with the help of the organisation Dignitas. Journalist Wolfgang Prosinger accompanied and interviewed Tanner in his last months and wrote a book about his life and his decision to commit assisted suicide.

Dr. Jean Marmoreo, Johanna Schneller

Dr. Jean Marmoreo, a family doctor working in Toronto, recounts how she came to provide assisted dying through the stories of seven patients. Co-authored by journalist Johanna Schneller, this memoir explores the challenges that assisted dying practitioners faced following legalization of the procedure in Canada and was a finalist for the 2022 Balsillie Prize for Public Policy.

Stefanie Green, MD

In this memoir, Dr. Stefanie Green chronicles her first year providing medical assistance in dying (MAID) immediately following the procedure’s legalization in 2016. Dr. Green is one of Canada’s leading MAID providers and is the founding president of the Canadian Association of MAID Assessors and Providers.