Last Rights: Death and Dying in Texas Law and Experience - Robert J. Connelly - Paperback Book

	Introduction: The Ultimate Human Right	1
1	The Natural Death Act	5
	Background	5
	Terminal Condition	11
	Life-Sustaining Procedures	18
	Competence	24
	Nursing Homes	31
	Conclusion	34
2	Brain Death Legislation	35
	Background	36
	The Report of the Harvard Committee on Brain Death	39
	Implications of the Harvard Report	43
	Brain Death Legislation in the Seventies	46
	Texas Brain Death Legislation	48
	The Uniform Determination of Death Act	49
	Guidelines for Reforming the Texas Act	50
	Conclusion	53
3	The Anatomical Gift Act	54
	Background: Transplantation Developments	55
	Heart Transplantation	55
	Experimental Transplantation	58
	Corneal Transplantation	59
	Kidney Transplantation	59
	End Stage Renal Disease Program	61
	The Texas Anatomical Gift Act (TAGA)	65
	Alternatives for Increasing the Supply of Organs	70
	Presumed Consent	70
	Presumed Consent and Limited Option Prior Consent	72
	The Sale of Human Cadaver Organs	74
	Conclusion	78
4	The Hospice Approach To Dying	80
	Traditional Institutions and the Needs of the Terminally Ill	81
	Medical Model	83
	Hospice	85
	A Case Study	85
	The Hospice Concept	86
	Patient Autonomy	87
	Patient and Family as the Unit of Care	90
	Pain Management	92
	Other Holistic Characteristics	95
	Conclusion	96
5	Hospice And The Critics	102
	Euthanasia as Mercy Killing	103
	Suicide	110
	Allocation of Resources	114
6	Hospice And The Mexican American	121
	The Presence of Death	122
	The Family	132
	Relevance of Hospice	135
	Conclusion	139
	Afterword	142
	Appendix A Texas Natural Death Act, Directive to Physicians	147
	Appendix B Texas Anatomical Gift Act	149
	Appendix C The Living Bank: Registration Form	153
	Appendix D Hospice Resources in Texas	156
	Appendix E Summary of Hospice Section of Public Law 97-248, September 3, 1982	161
	Notes	165
	Index	178