Personal Directions for Care at the End of Life

THE concern with the conditions in which people approach death is growing. The plight of Karen Ann Quinlan and her family touched many readers. More than the fear of death itself, it is the fear of lingering before death and of creating heavy burdens for families that troubles many. It is also the more general fear of dying in a hospital or nursing home as more than 80 per cent of Americans now must; of a process of growing mental incapacitation perhaps ending in total incompetence; or perhaps of prolonged, intense suffering. And underlying all these fears is that of . . .