Title – Wishes To Die For

Author: Kevin J. Haselhorst

Books are evaluated on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 meaning “needs improvement” and 5 meaning “outstanding.”

Structure, Organization, and Pacing: 5
Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar: 5
Production Quality and Cover Design: 4
Plot and Story Appeal: 5
Character Appeal and Development: 5
Voice and Writing Style: 5

Judge’s Commentary*:

This somber treatise on dying with dignity through well thought out advance directives is filled with sound advice on when and how to pull the plug. The challenging material is based on the writer’s years of experience as a doctor in Emergency Rooms. Many examples of unsure patients give the book a sobering effect. The book is divided into sections starting with an appeal for advance directives and what they can and should accomplish. Issues about getting counsel and guidance, having an end-of-life plan, and creating a health care proxy are discussed. Major issues in formation of the directive take in empathy, emotions, determination, critical thinking, and euthanasia. Actual enactment of directives covers pro-life disposition and anger management, handling of the survival instinct, and final resolutions. What sort of deliverance can be expected is broken down in elements of self-validation and death as a possible blessing. A religious motif appears sometimes in the text. Overall, the book can help readers sort out their personal values on this intimate and inevitable subject. The first-person writing is unsparing in its argument that lack of directives, and poor ones, only lead to more confusion over the health system’s rules and regulations and more suffering of patients. The cover’s design is colorful.

~ 23rd Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards