A Gentle Death

Seguin, Marilynne
Publisher:  Key Porter Books, Toronto, Canada
Year Published:  1994  
Pages:  249pp   Price:  $19.95   ISBN:  1-55013-553-8
Library of Congress Number:  R726.8.S44 1994   Dewey:  362.1'75
Resource Type:  Book
Cx Number:  CX9276

Explores the moral and legal implications of euthanasia. Offers advice on working with doctors and other health-care professionals, dealing with unresolved personal conflicts, involving family members and friends in the decision-making process, and coping with legal realities.

Abstract: 
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Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgements
Outline of Cases

CHAPTER ONE : THE JOURNEY BEGINS
Autonomy 12

CHAPTER TWO: PATIENTS AND DOCTORS: FINDING A BALANCE OF POWER
Finding the Right Partner in Your Health Care
What Makes a "Good Doctor"?
Good Communication Is the Cornerstone of Good Care
Some Causes of Communication Breakdown
The Diagnosis
The Specialist
Second Opinions
The Incompatible Philosophy

CHAPTER THREE: SUFFERING: WHAT IS IT AND WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT IT?
Institutional Settings
If you're Going to Be Sick,
Make Sure the Disease Is Interesting
Home Settings
Choices
Does "Let Me Die" Always Mean " Let Me Die"?

CHAPTER FOUR: HOW TO PUT DIGNITY IN DYING
Making It Right with Family and Friends
Tying Up Loose ends
Sharing the Second-Greatest Event in Your Life
It Is a Matter of Choice

CHAPTER FIVE: PLANNING AHEAD
Advance Health Care Directives
Background to the Development of Living Wills
A Living Will
Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care
Your Rights Under the Law
The Family and Advance Health care Directives
The Physician and Advance Health Care Directives

CHAPTER SIX: IS THERE A CHOICE?
Background to the Development of Palliative care
Some Problems-Real and Perceived-
With Palliative Care
Institutionalized Palliative Care
Pain Control
Other Alternatives
Serious Quality-of Life Decisions to Be Made
Suicide and Physician-Assisted Death
Anti-Choice Factions

CHAPTER SEVEN: SOCIAL VALUES
A Brief Historical Perspective on Medicine and Society
Institutionalized Medicine
The Age of the Specialist
The Birth of the Biomedical Ethicist
Birth and Death as Illness
Attitudes of Formal religion Toward Death
Changes In Family Structure
The Economics of Health Care
"Let Those Infected with AIDS Have Euthanasia!"
Others Express Their Opinion
Canadians Have Voted!

CHAPTER EIGHT: HOW DOES THE LAW STAND IN CANADA?
Recent Court Decisions
Parliament and the Right-to-Choose-to-Die Debate

CHAPTER NINE: WHEN IS THE END THE END?
Age Is Only One Part of the Dying Equation
Enough Is Enough

CHAPTER TEN: HOW TO SURVIVE AS A CAREGIVER
"I Just Need Time to Cry!"
"But There Is No One I Can Talk To."
Who Cares for the Caregivers at Home?
Respite Care

CHAPTER ELEVEN: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
Publicity Versus Privacy
The Hidden World of Negotiation
Physician-Assisted Death

Appendix A : Glossary
Appendix B : Selected Reading
Appendix C : A Living will
Appendix D : Canadian Support Groups
Appendix E : Sources for Information About Federal and
Provincial Legislation on Advance Health Care Directives
Appendix F : Members of the World Federation of Right-to-Die Societies

Subject Headings