A University of Alabama Law School Clinical Program funded in part by West Alabama Regional Commission

RESOURCES

Statutes

1. The Alabama Natural Death Act is found at Alabama Code § 22-8A-2 et seq.; the Durable Power of Attorney Act at Alabama Code § 26-1-2 et seq..

Organizations

2. Actively encouraging execution of Advance Directives and dedicated to educating Alabamians about the right to compassionate care and the need for policies promoting it is ABCLE, Alabamians for Better Care at Life’s End. Contact ABCLE at www.abcle.org

3. Last Acts Partnership officially joins together Partnership for Caring and Last Acts, both which have long advocated for patients’ choices in treatment and expressing those choices in writing. The organization offers numerous publications, including Advance Directives from all states at modest cost. It is part of a huge initiative to educate the public about the right of all patients to compassionate care. Contact LAXP at 1620 Eye Street, Suite 200, Washington, D.C. 20006; by phone at 1-800-989- WILL (9455); or online at www.lastactspartnership.org

4. Caring Conversations is a consumer education initiative developed by the Midwest Bioethics Center, 1021-25 Jefferson Street, Kansas City, MO 64105, 800-344-3829; online at www.midbio.org. Like ABCLE and Partnership for Caring, the group is partly funded by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

5. Aging With Dignity is a non-profit organization that publishes Five Wishes, a tool to help people decide and communicate their wishes about care at the end of life. Online at www.agingwithdignity.org or by phone 1-888-5-WISHES.

Books

8. Chapter 3 of Elder Law in a Nutshell provides a concise and readable history of medical decision-making and the increasing recognition of patients’ rights. Edited by Lawrence A. Frolik and Richard A. Kaplan, published by West Publishing Company, 1998.

9. Seduced by Death; Doctors, Patients and Assisted Suicide, by Herbert Hendin, M.D., is a compelling study of euthanasia in the Netherlands and medical experiences of dying patients in the U.S. While supporting the right of patients to choose a natural death, the author makes a strong case against legalizing physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia. W.W. Norton, 1998.

10. Dying Well: The prospect for growth at the end of life; by Ira Byock, M.D., Riverhead Press, 1997, offers insights into both problems and prospects for more compassionate care for the dying and chronically ill. Dr. Byock is a leading advocate for palliative and hospice care in the U.S.

11. Long Goodbye: The Deaths of Nancy Cruzan, by William H. Colby, Hay House Publishing. 2002. A fascinating, highly readable history of the battle through the Missouri courts to the United States Supreme Court and back, to release Nancy Cruzan from what her family believed was a living death that she would never had wanted.

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