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Resources on Death and Dying

Books

Approaching Death: Improving Care at the End of Life. Committee on Care at the End of Life, Institute of Medicine. National Academy Press. [R-726.8-.A68-1997]

As I Lay Dying: Meditations Upon Returning. Richard John Neuhas. Basic Books. [BF-1045-.N4-N48-2002x]

Care of the Dying: A Pathway to Excellence. Edited by John Ellershaw and Susie Wilkinson. Oxford University Press. [R-726.8-.C369-2003]

Caring for Patients at the End of Life: Facing An Uncertain Future Together. Timothy E. Quill. Oxford University Press. [R-726.8-.Q548-2001]

Caregiving and Loss: Family Needs, Professional Responses. Edited by Kenneth J. Doka and Joyce D. Davidson. Hospice Foundation of America. [BF-575-.G7-C271-2001x]

Caring for Dying People of Different Faiths. Julia Neuberger. 3rd edition. Radcliffe Publishing Ltd. [BL-504-.N48-2004]

A Clinician's Guide to Palliative Care. George J. Taylor and Jerome E. Kurent. Blackwell. [R-726.8-.C576-2003]

Compassion in Dying: Stories of Dignity and Choice. Edited by Barbara Coombs Lee. New Sage Press. [R-726.8-.C653-2003]

Coping Skills Therapy for Managing Chronic and Terminal Illness. Kenneth Sharoff. Springer. [RC-489-.C63-S533-2004]

Cry Until You Laugh: A Practical Approach to Grief and Death. Richard J. Obershaw. Reissue edition. Fairview Press. [BF-789-.D4-O24-1997]

Cultural Changes in Attitudes Toward Death, Dying, Bereavement. Bert Hayslip, Jr. and Cynthia A. Peveto. Springer. [GT-3150-.H38-2005]

Death Without Denial, Grief Without Apology: A Guide for Facing Death and Loss. Barbara K. Roberts. New Sage Press. [BF-789-.D4-R58-2002]

Describing Death in America: What We Need to Know. National Cancer Policy Board and Division of Earth and Life Studies, National Institutes of Medicine. Edited by Kathleen M. Foley, June R. Lunney, Thomas J. Smith, and Helen Gelband. The National Academies Press. [R-726.8-.D475-2003]

Dignity at the End of Life [Special thematic issue]. Journal of Palliative Care. Volume 20, #3, Autumn 2004. [Journal issue]

Don't Let Death Ruin Your Life: A Practical Guide to Reclaiming Happiness After the Death of a Loved One. Jill Brooke. Plume Book. [HQ-1073-.B75-2002]

Dying, Death, and Bereavement: A Challenge for Living. Edited by Inge Corless, Barbara B. Germino, and Mary A. Pittman. 2nd edition. Springer. [HQ-1073-.C464-2003]

The Dying Process: Patients' Experiences of Palliative Care. Julia Lawton. Routledge. [R-726.8-.L39-2000]

The Dying Soul: Spiritual Care at the End of Life. Mark Cobb. Open University Press. [R-726.8-.C6-20001]

End of Life Care: Clinical Practice Guidelines. Kim K. Kuebler, Patricia H. Berry, and Debra E. Heidrich. W. B. Saunders. [R-726.8-.K84-2002]

End of Life in Care Homes: A Palliative Care Approach. Edited by Jeanne Samson Katz and Sheila Peace. Oxford University Press. [R-726.8-.E54-2003]

End of Life Issues: Interdisciplinary and Multidimensional Perspectives. Edited by Brian de Vries. Springer. [HQ-1073-.E56-1999]

Empty Arms : A Guide to Help Parents and Loved Ones Cope With Miscarriage, Stillbirth and Neonatal Death. Sherokee Ilse and edited by Arlene Appelbaum. S.L. Ilse. 1982.

Empty Cradle, Broken Heart: Surviving the Death of Your Baby. Deborah L. Davis. Fulcrum Publishing. [RG-631-.D38-1996]

End of Life Nursing Care. Belinda Poor and Gail P. Poirrier. Jones and Bartlett. [R-726.8-.P65-2001]

Ethical Dilemmas at the End of Life. Edited by Kenneth J. Doka, Bruce Jennings, and Charles A. Corr. Hospice Foundation of America. Living with Grief series. [R-726.8-.E84-2005x]

Forever Ours: Real Stories of Immortality and Living from a Forensic Pathologist. Janis Amatuzio. New World Library. [BL-504-.A47-2004]

Geriatric Palliative Care. Edited by R. Sean Morrison and Diane E. Meier. Oxford University Press. [R-726.8-.G475-2003]

A Good Death: Challenges, Choices, and Care Options. Charles Meyer. Twenty-Third Publications. [R-726.8-.M49-1998]

Handbook of Mortals: Guidance for People Facing Serious Illness. Joanne Lynn, Joan Harrold and the Center to Improve Care of the Dying, George Washington University. Oxford University Press. [R-726.8-.H353-1999]

Healing Conversations: What to Say When You Don't Know What to Say. Nance Guilmartin. Jossey-Bass. [BF-637-.C54-G85-2002]

Healing the Dying. Melodie Olson. Second edition. Delmar. [RT-87-.T45-O47-2001]

How Do We Tell the Children?: A Step-by-Step Guide for Helping Children Two to Teen Cope When Someone Dies. Dan Schaefer and Christine Lyons. Newmarket Press. [BF-723-.D3-S33-2001]

Improving Nursing Home Care of the Dying: A Training Manual for Nursing Home Staff. Martha L. Henderson, Laura C. Hanson, and Kimberly S. Reynolds. Springer. [RC-954.3-.H466-2003]

Innovations in End-of-Life Care: Practical Strategies & International Perspectives. Edited by Mildred Z. Solomon, Anna L. Romer, Karen S. Heller, and David E. Weissman. Mary Ann Liebert. [R-726.8-.I55-2001]

Living with Death and Dying: How to Communicate with the Terminally Ill. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. Touchstone. [R-726.8-.K79-1997]

Living with Dying: A Handbook for End-of-Life Healthcare Practitioners. Edited by Joan Berzoff and Phyllis R. Silverman. Columbia University Press. [HV-3000-.L58-2004]

Matters of Life and Death: Finding the Words to Say Goodbye. Carol Wogrin. Broadway Books. [BF-789-.D4-W62-2001]

Miscarriage: A Shattered Dream. Sherokee Ilse and Linda Hammer Burns. Wintergreen Press. [R-G648-.I4-1985x]

Miscarriage: Women's Experiences and Needs. Christine Moulder. Routledge. [RG-648-.M68-2001]

The Nature of Suffering and the Goals of Medicine. Eric J. Cassell. 2nd edition. Oxford University Press. [R-723-.C42828-2004]

Nursing Support for Families of Dying Patients. Rosemary McIntyre. Whurr Publishers. [RT-87-.T45-M33-2002x]

Older Adults' View on Death. Victor G. Cicirelli. Springer. [BF-724.85-.D43-C53-2002]

Palliative Care Nursing: Quality Care to the End of Life. Edited by Marianne LaPorte Matzo and Deborah Witt Sherman. Springer. [RT-87-.T45-P343-2001]

Palliative Practices: An Interdisciplinary Approach. Kim K. Kuebler, Mellar P. Davis, and Crystal Dea Moore. Elsevier Mosby. [R-726.8-.K85-2005x]

Physician's Guide to End-of-Life Care. Edited by Lois Snyder and Timothy E. Quill. American College of Physicians--American Society of Internal Medicine. [R-726.8-.A46-2001]

The Psychology of Death. Robert Kastenbaum. Springer. [BF-789-.D4-K372-2000]

Psychosocial Issues in Palliative Care. Edited by Mari Lloyd-Williams. Oxford University Press. [R-726.8-.P795-2003]

Recognizing Spiritual Needs in People Who Are Dying. Rachel Stanworth. Oxford University Press. [R-726.8-.S78-2004]

Regulating How We Die: The Ethical, Medical, and Legal Issues Surrounding Physician-Assisted Suicide. Edited by Linda L. Emanuel. Harvard University Press. [R-726-.R445-1998]

Researching Palliative Care. Edited by David Field, David Clark, Jessica Corner, and Carol Davis. Open University Press. [R-726.8-.R465-2001]

The Right to Die Debate: A Documentary History. Edited by Marjorie Zucker. Greenwood Press. [R-726-.R498-1999]

The Right to Die with Dignity: An Argument in Ethics, Medicine, and Law. Raphael Cohen-Almagor. Rutgers University Press. [R-726-.C635-2001]

Sacred Dying: Creating Rituals for Embracing the End of Life. Megory Anderson. Prima Publishing. [BL-625.9-.S53-A63-2001]

Sudden Death in Childhood: Support for the Bereaved Family. Ann Dent and Alison Stewart. Butterworth Heinemann. [BF-575-.G7-D4-2004x]

Talking About Death Won't Kill You. Edited by Virginia Morris. Workman Publishing. [BF-789-.D4-M65-2001]

To Comfort Always: A Nurse's Guide to End of Life Care. Linda Norlander. American Nurses' Association. [RT-87-.T45-N674-2001]

Transitus: A Blessed Death in the Modern World. Therese Schroeder-Sheker. St. Dunstan's Press. [ML-3920-.S36-2001x]

20 Common Problems in End-of-Life Care. Edited by Barry M. Kinzbrunner, Neal J. Weinreb, and Joel S. Policzer. McGraw-Hill. [R-726.8-.A15-2002]

Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Great Lesson. Mitch Albom. Broadway Books. [LD-571-.B418-S383-2002]

When a Baby Dies: The Experience of Late Miscarriage, Stillbirth and Neonatal Death. Nancy Kohner and Aliz Henley. Routledge. [RG-631-.K645-2001]

When Children Die: Improving Palliative and End-of-Life Care for Children and Their Families. Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. The National Academies Press. [RJ-249-.W445-2003]

When Parents Die: Learning to Live With the Loss of a Parent. Rebecca Abrams. Routledge. [BF-575-.G7-A25-1999]

Withholding and Withdrawing Life-Prolonging Medical Treatment: Guidance for Decision-Making. British Medical Association. BMJ Books. [KF-3827-.E87-W57-2001x]

Videos

Caregiving and Loss: Family Needs, Professional Losses. With: Cokie Roberts (Moderator), Kenneth Doka, Bernice Harper, Carol Levine, Susan Reinhard, and Myrl Weinberg. Hospice Foundation of America. 2001.

Synopsis: Identifies the needs of family caregivers and explores how professionals can help; discusses the dynamics of caregiving — what it is, who provides it, where it happens; outlines government and workplace policies that affect caregiving; details programs and practices that make a difference for caregivers; documents caregiving experiences and the support professionals can provide.

Children Die, Too. Princeton, NJ: Films for the Humanities & Sciences, 1990. 26 minutes.

Synopsis: Art therapy classes for children; sudden death of a child; childhood diseases; birth defects; miscarriages; stillborns. A couple who lost their 3-year-old, a teenager whose sister dies from leukemia, and others who have lived through the death of a child talk about their experiences, and specialists in dealing with childhood terminal disease and death talk about how people can help each other and how surviving children can be helped to express grief.

Embracing Butterflies: Reflections on Living and the End-of-Life Experience. St. Paul, MN: Sunmark Productions, 2003. 32 minutes.

Synopsis: This video consists of nature scenes accompanied by quotes and reflections that are designed to encourage persons faced with end-of-life issues to live their limited days to their fullest, to reminisce about past moments that have given life its meaning, and to reflect on that which connects them to something larger than themselves.

A Fate Worse Than Death. Boston, MA: Fanlight Productions, 1990. 50 minutes.

Synopsis: Family members, nurses, doctors, ethicists and attorneys comment on the complex ethical, moral, and legal dilemmas surrounding decisions re: withholding/withdrawing artificial life support; discussion on advance directives, living wills, durable power of attorney.

Five Wishes. Tallahassee, FL: Aging with Dignity, 2000. 25 minutes.

Synopsis: A video about planning for and discussing care at the end of life.

Life Support Decisons. Boston, MA: Fanlight Productions, 1996. 50 minutes.

Synopsis: Discusses the rights and options of the elderly regarding life-support technologies and end-of-life care and decision making; discusses preparing advance directives, the realities of the health care system, legal considerations and requirements, cultural perspectives on death and dying, living wills and durable powers of attorney, the duties of surrogate decision makers, and the importance of values communication.

Living with Grief: Coping with Public Tragedy. Location unknown: Hospice Foundation of America, 2003. 143 minutes. With: Cokie Roberts (Moderator), Kenneth J. Doka, LaVone Hazell, Marcia Lattanzi-Licht, Nadine Reimer Penner, and Marlene A. Young.

Note: 4/30/2003 broadcast
Synopsis: This program looks at factors that define a public tragedy and offers insight and advice to organizations and professionals as they support their communities and help those coping with loss. The effects of tragedies such as 9-11, Hurricane Andrew, Oklahoma City and other significant national events are examined.

Living with Grief: Ethical Dilemmas at the End of Life. Washington, DC: Hospice Foundation of America, 2005. 147 minutes. With: Michael Putney (Moderator), Kenneth J. Doka, William H. Colby, Charles A. Corr, Richard B. Fife, Jack Gordon, Bernice Harper, Bruce Jennings, Bill Lamers, and JoAnne Reifsnyder.

Note: 4/20/2005 presentation
Synopsis: Explores the ethical and legal framework that we as a nation have come to agree on, recognizing, as the Schiavo case demonstrates, that not everyone agrees with these principles; explores the disconnect between this framework and putting it into practice; discusses disclosure, communication, goals of care, advanced planning, and surrogate decision making; discusses artificial hydration and nutrition; covers physician-assisted suicide, ethics and policy, implications for survivors who are part of the ethical decisions, and the impact on professionals touched by ethical dilemmas.

On Our Own Terms: Moyers on Dying. Princeton, NJ: Films for the Humanities & Sciences, 2000. 360 minutes total.

Synopsis: Tape 1) Living with Dying. Describes the search for new ways of thinking — and talking — about dying. Examines the end of life with honesty, courage, and even humor, demonstrating that dying can be an incredibly rich experience for both the terminally ill and their loved ones. Tape 2) A Different Kind of Care. Presents the important strides being made in the area of palliative care at pioneering institutions such as New York's Mt. Sinai Hospital and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Tape 3) A Death of One's Own. Documents the complexities underlying the many choices at the end of life, including the bitter debate over physician-assisted suicide. Discusses some of the hardest decisions, including how to pay for care, what constitutes humane treatment, and how to balance dying and dignity. Tape 4) A Time to Change. Introduces crusading medical professionals — including staff members of the Balm of Gilead Project in Birmingham, Alabama — who have dedicated themselves to improving end-of-life care by changing America's overburdened health system.

The Way We Die: Listening to the Terminally Ill. Boston, MA: Fanlight Productions, 1995. 24 minutes.

Synopsis: Through interviews with doctors, patients, and family members and through filmed interactions between medical personnel and their terminally ill patients, this video addresses a pervasive problem in health care today: the excessive and restrictive focus on treating diseases, not people. It makes the case that physicians and nurses must be trained to treat the whole patient, and encourages health care professionals to work with their patients to devise treatment plans in accordance with their needs, values, and wishes.

With Eyes Open: Coping with Death. Princeton, NJ: Films for the Humanities & Sciences, 2000. 104 minutes (26 minutes each). With: Ray Suarez.

Part 1: Grief and Healing.
Part 2: Difficult Decisions, When a Loved One Approaches Death.
Part 3: Caregiving.
Part 4: Beyond Life and Death.
Synopsis: Ray Suarez invites viewers to look at death with their eyes open to the end, so that they may more fully live in the natural light of the inevitability of dying. Topics such as grief, medical decision making, caregiving, and life after death are discussed in intimate groups. Simple exercises to assist in the healing process are included.