In the quarter century since the landmark Karen Ann Quinlan case, an ethical, legal, and societal consensus supporting patients' rights to refuse life-sustainin

This book is the most comprehensive treatment available of one of the most urgent problems in bioethics: decision-making for incompetents.

The Patient Self-Determination Act of 1990 required medical facilities to provide patients with written notification of their right to refuse or consent to medi

Advance directives—such as living wills and health care proxies—are documents intended to declare and preserve the health care choices of patients if they b

This volume gives an overview on the currently debated ethical issues regarding advance directives from an international perspective. It focuses on a wider unde