Dying and Death in Law and Medicine: A Forensic Primer for Health and Legal Professionals

While health professionals may be adequately informed about the legal aspects of many specialised areas of medicine and nursing, they may not totally understand the law applicable to cases of dying patients, or even the legal definition of death itself. In the wake of advances in medical technology, recent court decisions on the right to die, the enactment of natural death and brain death statutes, advance directives and living wills, and growing use of organ transplantation, there has been widespread concern about the legal and ethical issues surounding these subjects. This book, written by a lawyer-thanatologist, should satisfy these needs. It brings together case and statutory law applicable to dying patients, the right to die, advance directives, brain death, and organ transplantation, thus formulating a law of dying and death. It is also useful as a self-help law finder. Although occasions that require consultation with a lawyer will arise, this work gives health professionals practical guidance on where and how to find legal counsel. Medical decisions and issues that once were the sole province of doctors, hospitals, patients and families have become matters of increasing judicial and legislative attention.