End-of-Life Decision Making for Life Stage Planning in North Carolina

Summary: describes the Life Stage Planning process and encourages the reader to create a personal end-of-life care plan; The context includes: an exposition on death in the 21st century; how the settings of death may assist end-of-life care (EOL) planning; explanation of access portals to end-of-life care services; description of a complete range of humane end-of-life choices within medical supervision and outside of medical supervision; suggestions of "good voluntary death" as honoring the dying person and respecting his/her spiritual, cultural and familial sensitivities; details the four major documents to express one's end-of-life preferences; instructions on how to obtain prototype EOL documents for each US state; emphasis on personal advocacy as the essential and ongoing priority even after EOL documents have been decided and signed; suggestions for responding to a death outside medical supervision: truthful reporting to local authorities, cautions for witnesses of voluntary planned death, and legal constructs that govern voluntary planned death in the US. Includes referral and weblinks to other resources about EOL care methods. Large print edition