Stephen Eisenstein

A Decent Death Stephen Eisenstein

David Stern is a prisoner of the state somewhere in England in 2046. He was a health economist, fallen into disgrace from the heights of international acclaim for his work in achieving Assisted Dying - a decent death - for all who wish it in all modern economies. He had hoped that this humanitarian action would also solve the financial crisis facing these countries because of the costs of the expensive elderly. Dementia was the most common and single most expensive illness. Stern had a personal stake here; a father with dementia. His crime, qualifying as treason, was his campaign against a radical 'final solution' international Treaty for disposing of all the elderly, a Treaty justified on the basis of Stern's academic publications. The irony is that Stern has an impeccable Holocaust family history. The manuscript consists of Stern's reminiscences written in prison awaiting trial and certain execution, in the face of his own slowly failing memory. While the content is serious and appropriately topical, the style is intentionally comedic. The action, such as it is, plays out in London, Bristol, Oxford, Berlin, Windhoek, and Manchester.