The Spirit Ambulance: Choreographing the End of Life in Thailand Volume 49

By Scott Stonington

The Spirit Ambulance is a journey into decision-making at the end of life in Thailand, where families attempt to craft good deaths for their elders in the face of clashing ethical frameworks, from a rapidly developing universal medical system, to national and global human-rights politics, to contemporary movements in Buddhist metaphysics. Scott Stonington's gripping ethnography documents how Thai families attempt to pay back a "debt of life" to their elders through intensive medical care, followed by a medically assisted rush from the hospital to home to ensure a spiritually advantageous last breath. The result is a powerful exploration of the nature of death and the complexities arising from the globalization of biomedical expertise and ethics around the world.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0520343905
• ISBN13: 9780520343900
• Release Date: August 2020
• Publisher: University of California Press
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.9" x 8.8"