Jodi Picoult takes on the drama of life support in her new novel, Lone Wolf. With a dysfunctional family setting, Lone Wolf looks at the moral dilemma behind the question; how long should you wait?
The book centres around Luke Baxter who is badly injured in a car accident and lies in a coma in hospital with little chance of survival as he clings to life with the help of life support machinery. His family gather around him, including his doting daughter, Cara, who wants to fight for her father’s right to live at all costs and his prodigal son, Edward, who sees things in a completely different light.
With the idea of terminating life support so closely interlinked to the concept of assisted suicide due to eventually fatal or debilitating diseases, the book will probably strike a chord with all sides of the fence.
Released on hardback by Hodder and Stoughton on the 28th February, Jodi Picoult’s Lone Wolf looks likely to fuel a renewed interest in the debate. Do you hang on and hope for the improbable or do you pull the plug and remember the good times? Terminating life support undoubtedly misses out on the rare healthy recovery and a stable but severely diminished recovery leaves little scope for a later decision.
