To die well: your right to comfort, calm, and choice in the last days of life

1. Turning points at life's end

2. Rights of the dying patient

3. The first turning point : from active treatment to comfort care

4. Pain control

5. What you should expect from your doctors and nurses

6. Family and friends

7. The second turning point : making the decision to hasten death

8. What options have been used in the past to hasten death?

9. Helium : newly used method to end suffering

10. Differentiating sadness at the end of life from clinical depression

11. The special case of irreversible dementia and end-of-life management

12. Planning ahead with advance directives : staying in control

13. Allowing a merciful death

Appendix A. Historical background of the end-of-life movement and current national organizations

Appendix B. Oregon and physician-assisted dying

Appendix C. The international scene

Appendix D. End-of-life organizations

Appendix E. Sample living will

Appendix F. Health care proxy form with optional attachment

Appendix G. Proposed authorization for ending life in situations of irreversible and progressive cognitive decline.