End-of-Life Decision Making: A Cross National Study

by Blank, Robert H.

• ISBN13: 9780262025744
• ISBN10: 0262025744
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-01-01
• Publisher: MIT PRESS

Summary

This examination of end-of-life decision making offers a broader perspective than that found in the extensive existing literature on this topic by offering a cross-national comparison. Experts from twelve countries analyze death-related issues and policies in their respective nations, discussing such topics as health care costs, advance directives or wills, pain management, and cultural, social, and religious factors. The countries selected for study-Brazil, China, Germany, India, Israel, Japan, Kenya, the Netherlands, Taiwan, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States-represent a mix of East and West, developed and developing nations seldom considered together in analyses of these issues. This is the first systematic attempt to analyze end-of-life issues in many of these countries; the chapters on China, Kenya (of special significance because of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa) and Turkey break new ground. Each author reports on various factors in end-of-life decisions: estimated costs of dying, including health care costs; the proportion of deaths occurring in hospitals, in hospices, and at home; the prevalence and variety of advance directives; the mix of high technology and palliative care; the cut-off point for aggressive care and the legal definition of death; government policies on end-of-life decisions, assisted suicide, and euthanasia; and cultural, social, and religious influences. The findings show that there are great differences among countries even in the way these issues are framed. Scholars, policymakers, and medical practitioners can all benefit from the extensive information in these essays on how different nations are dealing with death-related issues.

Table of Contents

Series Foreword	ix
Preface	xi
1 Introduction: Issues at the End of Life	1	(12)
Robert H. Blank
2 Ethical Questions Related to End-of-Life Decisions: The Brazilian Reality	13	(20)
Léo Pessini
3 End-of-Life Care in China: A View from Beijing	33	(28)
Li Yiting, Ole Döring, Liu Fang, Fu Li, and Su Baoqi
4 End-of-Life Decision Making in Germany	61	(18)
Alfred Simon
5 End-of-Life Decision Making in India	79	(18)
Sunil K. Pandya
6 End-of-Life Decision Making in Israel	97	(12)
Tali Amidror and Frank J. Leavitt
7 End-of-Life Care in Japan	109	(22)
Darryl Macer
8 End-of-Life Decision Making in Kenya	131	(16)
Angela Wasunna
9 End-of-Life Decision Making in the Netherlands	147	(22)
Henk ten Have
10 End-of-Life Decision Making in Taiwan	169	(14)
Tai-Yuan Chiu
11 End-of-Life Decision Making in Turkey	183	(14)
Sahin Aksoy
12 Death Policy in the United Kingdom	197	(22)
Richard Ashcroft
13 Death and Dying: The American Experience	219	(24)
Janna C. Merrick
14 Summary: The State of End-of-Life Policy	243	(12)
Robert H. Blank
Contributors	255	(2)
Index	257