title: Be gentle about death ... and leave the balcony open.
abstract: This meditation on advance directives shows how such documents are part of a larger social movement. People are now reclaiming the right to direct their own dying, a process that requires the active support of the community around them.
authors: Institute for the Medical Humanities, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston.
authors: R A
authors: RA
authors: Carson
mesh_terms: D016223:Advance Directives / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D003643:Death; D035082:Federal Government; D033161:Government Regulation; D015285:Hospital-Patient Relations; D006801:Humans; D007882:Legislation, Hospital; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D012945:Social Values; D014481:United States