For social scientists, health professionals, and lay readers, Negotiating a Good Death: Euthanasia in the Netherlands is the first inside account of how decisions about euthanasia are made in real-life situations. Documenting two years of observations at a Dutch hospital, this valuable book describes why patients request euthanasia, the social factors that influence doctors' decisions about granting patients' requests, and how patients and doctors confer over peaceful deaths. Through case studies and examples, Negotiating a Good Death will help you understand the issues surrounding euthanasia and how life-ending decisions are made by both doctors and patients. To view an excerpt online, find the book in our QuickSearch catalog at www.HaworthPress.com.

Should human beings be allowed to decide when to die? Should doctors be allowed to assist them? During the last ten years there has been much international interest in euthanasia in the Netherlands. In the discussion of euthanasia in the US and the UK, both sides in the debate continually refer to the “Dutch Experience”. Negotiating a Good Death: Euthanasia in the Netherlands presents firsthand descriptions of euthanasia in practice in the Netherlands--something that has never been done before. This will provide a deeper understanding of the issues involved for all those interested in end-of-life decisions. It will also help clinicians and other medical professionals better understand end-of-life decision making. Negotiating a Good Death is the first inside account of how decisions about euthanasia are made in real-life situations. Documenting two years of observations at a Dutch hospital, this valuable book describes why patients request euthanasia, the social factors that influence doctors’decisions about granting patients’requests, and how patients and doctors confer over peaceful deaths. Some aspects of this delicate, often hidden, and socially taboo subject that Negotiating a Good Death frankly discusses are: the emotions that lead to a wish for death the ideology of easy death the anthropology of death the role of the researcher the line between symptom alleviation and euthanasia where the responsibility lies conservative options for medical personnel how to speak to relatives of someone who has requested euthanasia euthanasia as a cultural construct Through case studies and examples, Negotiating a Good Death: Euthanasia in the Netherlands will help you understand the issues surrounding euthanasia and how life-ending decisions are made by both doctors and patients.

Social Work Theory and Practice with the Terminally Ill, second edition, takes a compassionate look at ways that social workers can help dying people and their families. The social workers who work most effectively with terminally ill patients and their families are the ones who best understand the multifaceted nature of the dying process and its impact on the the patient, the family, and even on the health care professionals who work with patients at the end of life. Dr. Parry--who specializes in dying and bereavement--offers astute observations on the stages of dealing with the diagnosis of a terminal illness and the impending death that patients and their families confront. This updated second edition provides valuable new information on ways that social workers can help those with AIDS and their families, on traumatic death from any cause, and on the grieving processes of parents. Social Work Theory and Practice with the Terminally Ill, second edition, also includes stimulating discussions on: the interdisciplinary health team the grieving process professional burnout how social workers adapt to working with dying patients euthanasia and physician-assisted dying living wills and patients’rights In touching case studies, this volume illustrates the particular needs and concerns of the terminally ill and their families--impending losses, financial worries, job concerns, pain, unfinished business, and spiritual needs--and reviews successful interventions used by social workers to help patients and their families work through the dying process.

John Noonan died suddenly in 2007. It seems fitting that he did not have to suffer from a long illness after having cared for his partner, Christopher Clements, through his six-year battle with AIDS. It had been eight years since Chris's death, but Chris and "the good death" were never far from John's thoughts. Beyond a witty recollection of tender care-giving and negotiating the health care system, John's memoir reveals a unique perspective on life and love. When John and Chris exchanged rings in a private ceremony on Martha's Vineyard, they didn't suspect their life together would become a series of hospital visits - never knowing whether to expect a heartless receptionist or an empathetic doctor, a ceaseless giving and taking of medications with unexpected side effects, including a roof top suicide attempt, and ultimately end, as it began, in their own extraordinary way.

Once regarded as taboo, it is now claimed that we live in a death-obsessed society. The face of death in the twenty-first century, brought about by cultural and demographic change and advances in medical technology, presents health and social care practitioners with new challenges and dilemmas. By focusing on predominant patterns of dying, global images of death, shifting boundaries between the public and the private, and cultural pluralism, the author looks at the way death is handled in contemporary society and the sensitive ethical and practical dilemmas facing nurses, social workers, doctors and chaplains. This book brings together perspectives from social science, health care and pastoral theology to assist the reader in understanding and negotiating this 'new death'. Students interested in death studies from a sociological and cultural viewpoint, as well as health and social care students and practitioners, will benefit from this appraisal and application of the established knowledge base to contemporary practices and ethical debates.

Emphasising the multi-disciplinary nature of palliative care the fourth edition of this text also looks at the individual professional roles that contribute to the best-quality palliative care.