Judith Ahronheim and Doron Weber. 285 pages. New York: Simon & Schuster; 1992. $18.00.

Concurrent with the marked upsurge in the availability and sophistication of medical technology, public concentration on and discussion of the way Americans die has also increased. All aspects of the dying process are being scrutinized, and an active debate has started on such profound issues as the cost, both in dollars and resources, of providing medical care to the terminally ill, the use of machines to prolong the dying process, and the ethical issues involved in physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia.

Final Passages offers a low-key, common-sense background of facts and information to the often heated discussions that are taking place in legislative assemblies, hospital intensive care units, meetings of ethicists, and the living rooms of America. Written in an easy-to-read and interesting style by Dr. Judith Ahronheim, a physician trained in geriatrics, and Doron Weber, former Communications Director of the Society for the Right To Die, this book makes no attempt to answer the many difficult questions surrounding this area. Its very neutrality, however, is a significant source of its strength and importance. The authors concentrate on providing detailed information about such topics as pain control, the frequency of undiagnosed and untreated depression in many seriously ill patients, the legal implications involved when physicians consider helping to end a life, the financial decisions that families and patients must face, and the use of advance directives to help patients maintain some control over their future.

Final Passages is a valuable source of well-researched facts for those who face, with their families, illness and death. It should help to keep the discussions as objective as possible as American society works to shape and reshape its attitudes about dying.