SOUTHEAST TENNESSEE LEGAL SERVICES
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SOUTHEAST TENNESSEE LEGAL SERVICES
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Photo by John Blankenship Morgan County, Tennessee
In addition to the resources available from the organizations listed elsewhere at our website, you may consult other sources below. Postal addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses are generally available at the websites indicated. The information below is of the following types:
Categories are shown below in alphabetical order.
Advance Directives
Aging with Dignity furnishes a document (Five Wishes™) for use in 34 jurisdictions.
The American Bar Association's Commission on Law and Aging offers a toolkit for conversations that form the basis for deciding what kind of advance directive you want.
The Medical Directive was prepared by two physicians.
Caring Conversations™ is a document that is a part of a workbook relating to end-of-life conversations provided by the Midwest Bioethics Center.
Partnership for Caring provides state-specific documents. It is a consortium of which Choice in Dying, the original compiler of the documents, is now a part.
Bioethics
National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature at Georgetown University.
Books
Marilyn J. Field and Christine K. Cassell, editors, Approaching Death: Improving Care at the End of Life, Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press: 1997, is a review of medical, legal, financial, and public policy issues, together with a comprehensive set of recommendations for better medical care.
Joseph H. Howell and William F. Sale, editors, Life Choices: A Hastings Center Introduction to Bioethics, Washington, D.C.: Georgetown: 1995, is more than a primer and is not limited in scope to the end of life.
Joanne Lynn and Joan Harrold, Handbook for Mortals: Guidance for People Facing Serious Illness, New York: Oxford, 1999, is a dialogue by two physicians with the general reader about the practical aspects of illness and death. It has a comprehensive listing of resources and organizations akin to Appendixes in this book.
Sherwin B. Nuland’s How We Die: Reflections on Life’s Final Chapter, New York: Knopf, 1994, is a physician’s description of the dying process that won the National Book Award. Burial, Cremation, and Funerals
Funeral Consumers Alliance is a federation of nonprofit consumer information societies.
Comfort Care
The Resource Center for Pain Medicine and Palliative Care at Beth Israel Medical Center
Drugs
The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists has a database of information about medications.
Elder Law
The American Bar Association's Commission on Law and Aging explores legal issues surrounding long-term care, surrogate decision-making, individual rights, guardianship, housing, social security, elder abuse, and other public benefit programs.
Both FindLaw and SeniorLaw have extensive listings of elder law resources on the Internet. End-of-Life Care
Growth House is a comprehensive gateway to resources for life-threatening illness and end-of-life care.
Last Acts contains a large database of resources concerning the end of life.
Innovations in End of Life Care is an online journal featuring peer-reviewed promising practices in end-of-life care.
The University of Ottawa Institute of Palliative Care
Federal Agencies
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Food and Drug Administration
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
The National Institute on Aging
The Office of Disability, Aging and Long-Term Care Policy
Federal Government Resources on the Web
Handbooks
Caring Conversations Workbook is a comprehensive do-it-yourself workbook on planning for end-of-life care.
Charles Meyer's A Good Death: Challenges Choices and Care Options is a pain language explanation of the implications of end-of-life care decisions from a religious and spiritual perspective.
Hard Choices for Loving People: CPR, Artificial Feeding, Comfort Measures Only and the Elderly Patient is a booklet on end-of-life decisions concerning resuscitation, food and fluids, hospitalization, and cure versus comfort care.
Making Health Care Decisions for Others: A Guide to Being a Health Care Proxy or Surrogate
Your Life Your Choices - Planning for Future Medical Decisions: How to Prepare a Personalized Living Will, is a comprehensive do-it-yourself workbook on planning for end-of-life care. Order through the National Technical Information Service.
Health Information
Healthfinder has a guide to health information and includes links to libraries, online journals, medical dictionaries, and databases.
Mayo Clinic has a list of Internet search tools and consumer health websites; information on health and medical topics; and publications from Mayo Clinic.
The Medical College of Wisconsin provides medical information for travelers.
MEDLINEplus has information on conditions, diseases and wellness; a medical encyclopedia; a medical dictionary; information about generic and brand name drugs; locations and credentials of doctors, dentists and hospitals; and links to other organizations, libraries, publications, and databases.
World Health Organization's Bookshop
Legal ResearchPartnership for Caring has a summary of legal developments regarding the right to refuse treatment, intractable pain statutes, and related matters.
Cornell Law School provides a free resource for State and Federal constitutions, statutes, regulations, and judicial decisions, as well as a commentary upon many legal subjects.
FindLaw offers an array of free legal resources: legal web sites; state law resources, law reviews, and legal memoranda; and Federal and State case law, codes, and regulations.
Lexis is a complete tool for legal research and contains a comprehensive library, but it charges fees for usage.
Westlaw is has case law and statutory material from all U.S. jurisdictions, legal texts, information from news sources, public records, and more. It too charges fees. Libraries
The Library of Congress has a gateway to its catalog and those at many other institutions.
Medical Guidelines
National Guideline Clearinghouse, a public resource for evidence-based clinical practice guidelines. It is sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in partnership with the American Medical Association and the American Association of Health Plans.
Medical Research
The National Library of Medicine is a Federal agency that is the world’s largest medical library. It embraces MEDLINE, MEDLINEplus, ClinicalTrials.gov, a directory of health organizations, a catalog of the NLM collection, and more.
PubMed is the National Library of Medicine’s tool for researching citations in MEDLINE, PreMEDLINE, and other related databases, with links to participating online journals. Pain Management
Painlaw is an online legal resource for lawyers whose clients are terminally ill or suffering from chronic, intractable pain.
The Mayday Pain Project has selected Internet links and resources regarding pain management.
Registries
MedicAlert has a repository for advance directives as well as emergency health information. Religious Guidance
Catholic Church -- The Health Care Proxy Bill: A Catholic Guide. Call the Massachusetts Catholic Conference at (617) 574-0771.
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints -- Official proclamations pertaining to prolonging life and euthanasia are available at (801) 240-2205.
Conservative Judaism -- Jewish Medical Directives for Health Care. Write to United Synagogue Book Service, 155 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. For other publications, visit The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.
Episcopal Church -- Care of the Terminally III, available by calling (800) 228-0515.
Islam -- Ruling on Medical Treatment.
Orthodox Judaism – Advance directives are available at Jewish Law. Also visit the Orthodox Union.
Presbyterian Church USA -- Overture 98-50 addresses end-of-life planning issues.
Reform Judaism -- A Time to Prepare. Call (800) 368-1090 or write to UAHC Committee on Bio-Ethics, 1511 Walnut St., Suite 401, Philadelphia, PA 19102. For other publications, visit Union of American Hebrew Congregations.
United Church of Christ -- Making End-of-Life Decisions. Call (216) 736-2250 or write to 700 Prospect Ave., Cleveland, OH 44115.
United Methodist Church – Understanding Living and Dying as Faithful Christians. Call (202) 488-5600 or write to 100 Maryland Ave., NE, Washington, DC 20002.
State Regulation
Federation of State Medical Boards
National Association of Boards of Pharmacy
National Association of Insurance Commissioners
Copyright 2003 by Whitney Durand. Used with permission.
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