To Die Well Your Right to Comfort, Calm, and Choice in the Last Days of Life

by Wanzer, Sidney; Glenmullen, Joseph

• ISBN13: 9780738211633
• ISBN10: 073821163X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-02-26
• Publisher: Balance

Summary

Knowing our rights to refuse treatment, and ways to bring death earlier if pain or distress cannot be alleviated, will spare us the frightening helplessness that can rob our last days of meaning and personal connection. Drs. Wanzer and Glenmullen clarify what patients should insist of their doctors, including the right to enough pain medication even if it shortens life. Everyone needs their wise and comforting advice.

Author Biography

Sidney Wanzer, M.D., is a nationally known authority on issues of death and dying, formerly with the Harvard University Health Services. Dr. Wanzer lives in Concord, Massachusetts. Joseph Glenmullen, M.D., on the faculty of Harvard Medical School, is the author of Prozac Backlash. Dr. Glenmullen lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
Turning Points at Life's End	p. 1
Rights of the Dying Patient	p. 15
The First Turning Point: From Active Treatment to Comfort Care	p. 23
Pain Control	p. 49
What You Should Expect from Your Doctors and Nurses	p. 55
Family and Friends	p. 67
The Second Turning Point: Making the Decision to Hasten Death	p. 75
What Options Have Been Used in the Past to Hasten Death?	p. 89
Helium: Newly Used Method to End Suffering	p. 115
Differentiating Sadness at the End of Life from Clinical Depression	p. 125
The Special Case of Irreversible Dementia and End-of-Life Management	p. 131
Planning Ahead with Advance Directives: Staying in Control	p. 141
Allowing a Merciful Death	p. 149
Historical Background of the End-of-Life Movement and Current National Organizations	p. 155
Oregon and Physician-assisted Dying	p. 163
The International Scene	p. 171
End-of-Life Organizations	p. 174
Sample Living Will	p. 176
Health Care Proxy Form with Optional Attachment	p. 178
Proposed Authorization for Ending Life in Situations of Irreversible and Progressive Cognitive Decline	p. 184
Notes	p. 188
Index	p. 200
Acknowledgments	p. 205
About the Authors	p. 209
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