Death and Dying Term Paper

Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth. On Death and Dying. Scribner, 1997. A seminal work on the subject of death and dying, Kubler-Ross's book was initially published in the 1960s and remains relevant. On Death and Dying is a commentary on the views toward death and dying held by our culture and therefore illustrates the underlying moral and ideological principles that have guided public policy in the area of right-to-die ethics. Moreover, Kubler-Ross emphasizes the experience of dying from the patient's perspective, garnering information from case studies and interviews. Although offered primarily as a text to assist hospice, health care workers, friends, and family members in dealing with the difficulties of death and dying, Kubler-Ross's book is instrumental in painting a thorough picture of why our current laws exist and how they might be changed in the future. At the heart of On Death and Dying is the assertion that our culture does in fact deal with death in destructive ways and the book can therefore serve as a guide for advising public policy shifts.

2. Callanan, Maggie; Kelley, Patricia. Final Gifts. Bantam, 1997. Written by two hospice workers, Final Gifts offers a constructive, ironically life-affirming perspective on death and dying. The authors, who coined the phrase "Nearing Death Awareness," focus on the potential of the dying process. From their experiences working with individuals with terminal illnesses and those who love them, Callanan and Kelley noticed that profound spiritual wisdom and meaningful experiences of enlightenment can accompany the dying process.Through systematic and fearless encouragement of creative communication, the dying can learn to communicate their fears and their dread, in order to alleviate their own pain and that of their loved ones. Final Gifts offers a positive perspective that can help eliminate deeply-rooted social taboos of death and help therefore to create more humane public policies regarding right-to-die.

3. Moody, Raymond. Life After Life. 2nd Edition. San Francisco: Harper, 2001. Raymond Moody's book is a classic in its field. Based on over a hundred case studies, Life After Life offers anecdotal evidence for the possible existence of some kind of life after death. The book is valuable in the argument in favor of changing public policy in favor of a more humane view toward the right-to-die because it may help alter somewhat the norms and taboos in our culture regarding death and dying.

4. Nuland, Sherwin B. How We Die. Vintage, 1995. The author takes a decisively pro-right-to-die stance based on personal experience and objective analysis on a variety of common terminal diseases, Nuland shows that human beings must inevitably face their own death fearlessly and courageously. His book offers assistance to those who fear death, and Nuland demonstrates that all human beings deserve the right to die peacefully. How We Die urges those in the medical profession to become more aware of the relevance of assisted suicide in providing….....