In this book the author makes a case for legalized physician-assisted dying. Using the latest data from Oregon and the Netherlands, he puts a new slant on perennial debate topics such as "slippery slopes," "the integrity of medicine," and "sanctity of life." This book provides an in-depth look at how we die in America today. It examines the shortcomings of our end-of-life system. You will learn about terminal torture in hospital ICUs and about the alternatives: hospice and palliative care. The author scrutinizes the good, the bad, and the ugly. He provides a critique of the practice of palliative sedation. The book makes a strong case that assisted dying complements hospice. By providing both, Oregon now has the best palliative-care system in America. This book, above all, may help you or someone you care about navigate this strange landscape we call "end of life." It can be an informed guide to "a good death" in the age of hospice and high-tech medical intervention.

Encourages patients to become active participants in the process of fighting disease, and includes guidelines for medically-assisted suicide.

Providing a thorough, well-researched investigation of the socio-legal issues surrounding medically assisted death for the past century, this book traces the origins of the controversy and discusses the future of policymaking in this arena domestically and abroad. Should terminally ill adults be allowed to kill themselves with their physician's assistance? While a few American states—as well as Holland, Switzerland, Belgium, and Luxembourg—have answered "yes," in the vast majority of the United States, assisted death remains illegal. This book provides a historical and comparative perspective that not only frames contemporary debates about assisted death and deepens readers' understanding of the issues at stake, but also enables realistic predictions for the likelihood of the future diffusion of legalization to more countries or states—the consequences of which are vast. Spanning a period from 1906 to the present day, Dying with Dignity: A Legal Approach to Assisted Death examines how and why pleas for legalization of "euthanasia" made at the beginning of the 20th century were transmuted into the physician-assisted suicide laws in existence today, in the United States as well as around the world. After an introductory section that discusses the phenomenon of "medicalization" of death, author Giza Lopes, PhD, covers the history of the legal development of "aid-in-dying" in the United States, focusing on case studies from the late 1900s to today, then addresses assisted death in select European nations. The concluding section discusses what the past legal developments and decisions could portend for the future of assisted death.

Dying Right provides an overview of the Death With Dignity movement, a history of how and why Oregon legalized physician-assisted suicide, and an analysis of the future of physician-assisted suicide. Engaging the question of how to balance a patient's sense about the right way to die, a physician's role as a healer, and the state's interest in preventing killing, Dying Right captures the ethical, legal, moral, and medical complexities involved in this ongoing debate.

Many advocates of euthanasia consider the criminal law to be an inappropriate medium to adjudicate the profound ethical and humanitarian dilemmas associated with end of life decisions. 'Euthanasia,Death with Dignity and the Law' examines the legal response to euthanasia and end of life decisions and considers whether legal reform is an appropriate response to calls for euthanasia to be more readily available as a mechanism for providing death with dignity. Through an analysis of consent to treatment, living wills and autonomous medical decision making, euthanasia is carefully located within its legal, medical, and social contexts. This book focuses on the impact of euthanasia on the dignity of both the recipient and the practitioner while emphasising the legal, professional, and ethical implications of euthanasia and its significance for the exercise of clinical discretion. It will provide a valuable addition to the euthanasia debate.

Physician-Assisted Death is the eleventh volume of Biomedical Ethics Reviews. We, the editors, are pleased with the response to the series over the years and, as a result, are happy to continue into a second decade with the same general purpose and zeal. As in the past, contributors to projected volumes have been asked to summarize the nature of the literature, the prevailing attitudes and arguments, and then to advance the discussion in some way by staking out and arguing forcefully for some basic position on the topic targeted for discussion. For the present volume on Physician-Assisted Death, we felt it wise to enlist the services of a guest editor, Dr. Gregg A. Kasting, a practicing physician with extensive clinical knowledge of the various problems and issues encountered in discussing physician assisted death. Dr. Kasting is also our student and just completing a graduate degree in philosophy with a specialty in biomedical ethics here at Georgia State University. Apart from a keen interest in the topic, Dr. Kasting has published good work in the area and has, in our opinion, done an excellent job in taking on the lion's share of editing this well-balanced and probing set of essays. We hope you will agree that this volume significantly advances the level of discussion on physician-assisted euthanasia. Incidentally, we wish to note that the essays in this volume were all finished and committed to press by January 1993.

The explosion of literature on the once taboo topic of death and dying in the late 1970s had tended to pass the professional social worker by. Originally published in 1981, it was to fill this important gap that Towards Death with Dignity was written. Not since Kubler-Ross's now classic On Death and Dying has a book in the field of terminal care been informed by so much first-hand experience, and so much case material, allowing the caregiver to learn from the dying person himself how best to help him towards a dignified death. Sylvia Poss's sensitive elucidation of what the dying person must do for himself in order to master his terminal crisis was welcomed as a major contribution to psychosocial knowledge at the time. Having outlined the dying person's side of the crisis, she turns to the perspective of those who hope to help him towards death - other patients, nurses, doctors, paramedical staff and social workers, chaplains, volunteers, employers, relatives and friends. Towards Death with Dignity focuses on three of social work's major methods: social casework, community work and teaching. Not only does Sylvia Poss outline what may need to be done by the caregiver, but she also illustrates how; she further outlines how to prepare for social work in the terminal care field and suggests an effective method for teaching terminal care skills. Her book also provided, for the first time, a synthesis of other recent work in the field, to help social workers through what had become a plethora of specialist psychosocial and medical literature. Towards Death with Dignity was thus a useful, practical guide, both for laymen and for the many professionals involved in this aspect of the health care field. It will also be valuable for those who are involved personally in moving towards their own death, or are being called upon to be involved in some way in the death of a relative, neighbour or friend.

ad;bnpaio nbqw;oreb n Is it possible to have a good death, free from unnecessary pain and trauma? What if our final days were designed to bring about reconciliation and release? In this wise and large-hearted book, Dr. Jim deMaine offers advice pointing the way toward a grace-filled transition out of life. Facing Death is both a memoir-in-vignettes and a handbook full of practical advice from Dr. deMaine's forty years in busy hospitals and ICUs. Using stories from his own life and practice, the veteran physician walks readers through ethical questions around "heroic" interventions: Do we fully understand what we're asking when we tell doctors to "do everything" to prolong life, even in cases when a patient has no chance of regaining consciousness? If we write advance directives outlining the kinds of care we would, or would not want, how can we ensure that they will be followed? As a pulmonary and critical care specialist, Dr. deMaine developed deep experience navigating such quandaries with patients and their families. In Facing Death he also treads into territory many physicians avoid, such as the role of spirituality; conflicts between doctors and families; cultural traditions that can aid or impede the goal of a peaceful transition, and ways to leave a moral legacy for our descendants.

Assisted dying and human dignity are two extremely contested topics in Bioethics. This volume offers the first book-length attempt to bring both together. Its authors develop detailed philosophical analyses of dignity, and how it relates to assisted suicide and euthanasia.

Explores human dignity and care in the face of disease and disability. Complex contemporary experiences with disease, death, and disability in the United States have made the concept of human dignity seem outdated. In Doing Dignity: Ethical Praxis and the Politics of Care, Christa Teston challenges conventional notions of dignity and, based on analyses of clinical observations, interviews, and focus groups, encourages a new understanding of care. This thought-provoking book presents a practice-based approach to human dignity through three compelling case studies: US health care professionals' COVID-19 caretaking experiences, legislative debates about medical aid in dying, and clinical interactions between wheelchair users and health care professionals. Teston demonstrates how dignity is not an abstract idea but rather is a set of practices embedded in the politics and complexities of care. Drawing from feminist care ethics, rhetorical theory, disability studies, and critical Black studies, Doing Dignity offers a fresh perspective on the moral underpinnings of modern-day medicine. Teston explores how health care professionals enact dignity despite the challenges of market-based medicine, the commodification of care, and shifting societal discourse on disease, dying, and disability. This book transcends philosophical debates and provides practical insights for both patients and practitioners. Without falling into sentimentality or hopelessness, Doing Dignity honors human vulnerability while revealing how situational factors influence the practice of dignified care.