The Life or Death Committee

Could you decide who lives and who dies? Bestselling author Jillian Medoff explores the human consequences of impossible choices in a gripping novel inspired by a true story from the 1960s that raised moral dilemmas still echoing today. In the summer of 1961, seven Seattle citizens—a minister, a surgeon, a lawyer, a labor leader, a housewife, a banker, and a state government official—came together in an act of public service. Privately called the “Life-or-Death Committee,” they decided who among hundreds of gravely ill people would gain access to dialysis, a new life-sustaining treatment for kidney disease, and who would be denied. A forerunner of modern bioethics, the committee forced ordinary individuals to confront extraordinary moral questions. Inspired by controversial, real-life events, The Life or Death Committee is a sweeping and powerful novel that traces the intersecting stories of the seven volunteers and those drawn into their orbit.