about them . There are n't a lot of situations in which we 're willing to take choice away from people , even if they would benefit from it . My research suggests that Americans hold on tighter to choice than just about anyone else . In one study , my collaborators Simona Botti and Kristina Orfali and I interviewed French and American parents who were coping with a tragic loss . Each couple had recently lost a severely ill baby after life support had been removed . In France , the doctors made the decision to remove life support ; in America , the parents had the final say . The outcome was the same for all the parents , so did they have similar reactions ? Even up to a year later , the American parents expressed a great deal more negative emotion than the French parents . The French made statements like this : `` Noah was here for so little time , but he gave us so much , a new perspective on life . '' American parents , by contrast , said things like , `` I keep thinking to myself , ` What if
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- In his essay `` The Myth of Sisyphus , '' Albert Camus writes , `` Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy . '' It is not a question we like to think about . The default assumption is that life is always worth living , that it is sacred and should be treated as such . When that assumption is challenged , we find ourselves confused , afraid and -- in some cases -- angry . The new HBO film `` You Do n't Know Jack '' probably wo n't spur serious investigation of the fundamental question . This biopic of Jack Kevorkian , the infamous `` Dr. Death , '' may not add anything new to the physician-assisted suicide argument , but it does remind us of a time not too long ago when we were forced to consider where we stand on the matter . And for many of us , where we stand is anything but firm ground . We believe in choice . We believe in self-determination . In fact , we prize them ; we promote them ; we preach