Nikki Gemmell

This memoir by Nikki Gemmell explores her mother Elayn’s unexpected suicide in reaction to chronic pain and the subsequent fallout. Elayn was a member of Exit International and Gemmell’s high-profile story was part of the national conversation on legalising assisted dying in Australia.

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.

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.

Fu Ta-Jen, Fu Chun-Hao

Taiwanese broadcaster Fu Ta-Jen, diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, chose to have a physician-assisted death in Switzerland on June 7, 2018, with witnesses present. While there is no existing law regarding assisted dying in Taiwan, his decision sparked societal debate on the right to die, largely fueled by his continuous advocacy on Facebook.

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.

Matt Vickers

In this heartfelt memoir, Matt Vickers recounts how he and his wife, prominent lawyer Lecretia Seales who was diagnosed with a brain tumour, fought in the Aotearoa/New Zealand High Court to allow her to choose when she died. Although her case was rejected, Seales’s story influenced subsequent legalisation in the country.