The In-Between, Unforgettable Encounters During Life’s Final Moments (2023-NY Times Best Selller), by Hadley Vlahos, RN. Vignettes about Vlahos’ hospice patients, with her own life’s struggles scattered about.

The Day I Die: The Untold Story of Assisted Dying in America (2023) by Anita Hannig. A very readable book of anthropologic research on all aspects of Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD) in Oregon and Washington and what’s really behind the opposition to (MAiD).

Voluntary Stopping Eating and Drinking: A Compassionate, Widely Available Option for Hastening Death Edited by Timothy E. Quill, Paul T. Menzel, Thaddeus Pope, and Judith K. Schwarz. Explores the clinical, ethical, legal and policy questions that arise from the option of Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking (VSED). (Hard cover.)

The Inevitable: Dispatches on the Right to Die (2021) by Katie Engelhart. An impartial and beautifully written review of the right-to-die movement, including the self-deliverance movement. Katie captures the anguish many people have over the fact that their pets can have a peaceful and reliable death, but they cannot.
Click here to read an excerpt from The Inevitable.

That Good Night: Life and Medicine in the Eleventh Hour (2020) by Dr. Sunita Puri.  A palliative care doctor’s memoir tells stories about what quality-of-life and dying-with-dignity can mean for patients in their last moments.

The Art of Dying Well: A Practical Guide to a Good End of Life (2020) by Katy Butler. Katy’s book, Knocking on Heaven’s Door describes the problem. This book offers practical advice and tips on avoiding a prolonged, medicalized death.

Finish Strong: Putting YOUR Priorities First at Life’s End (2018) by Barbara Coombs Lee, a nurse, physician assistant and attorney. Offers practical advice on how to stay off the over-treatment conveyor belt.

At Peace: Choosing a Good Death After a Long Life (2018) By Samuel Harrington, MD. About overly aggressive medical care at end-of-life.  Includes a discussion of the terminal patterns of the six most common chronic diseases.

Extreme Measures: Finding a Better Path to the End of Life (2017) by Jessica Nutik Zitter, M.D.,  Triple-board certified ICU doctor   describes the evolution in her thinking that took place while observing what so often happens to ICU patients at end of life.

Choosing to Die: a Personal Story: Elective Death by Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking (VSED) in the Face of Degenerative Disease (2017) by Phyllis Shacter. An intimate tale of how a wife supported her husband when he chose to die by Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking (VSED). The appendix includes a materials list.

Sign Posts of Dying (2016) by Martha Jo Atkins, PhD.   This book can help you recognize the language of dying by explaining often ignored or unrecognized aspects of the dying process.

Rational Suicide, Irrational Laws, Examining Current Approaches to Suicide in Policy and Law (2016) by Susan Stefan, Oxford University Press. This book compares policies and laws in different states in the U.S. and examines the policies and laws of other countries in Europe, Asia, and the Americas, including the 2015 legalization of medical aid in dying in Canada.

Dignified Dying, a Guide (2015) by Boudewijn Chabot, M.D., Ph.D. Gives details on how to use two methods of self-deliverance, the Helium Method and the Medication Method (prescription drugs).  Contains the latest information on which drugs to use and their dosages.

Stopping Eating and Drinking, a Guide (2015), by Boudewijn Chabot, M.D., Ph.D. Explains the stopping-eating-and-drinking method (SED) of self-deliverance. Palliative care is essential over a period of days.

Knocking on Heaven’s Door (The Path to a Better Way of Dying) (2013), by Katy Butler. The best and latest book of its kind. An intimate look at prolonged dying caused by medical intervention, and the burdens placed on a professor’s wife, the caregiver for six years and his daughter, the author. Her mother (the caregiver) chooses a different path. If you read anything, read this.

Death, Dying & Dessert (Reflections on 20 Questions About Dying) (2013), by Susan Able Lieberman, Ph.D. Another wonderful recent book that grew out of discussions with friends. Contains a list of end-of-life considerations, such as wills, that are in addition to health care issues (p. 55).

How We Die Now (Intimacy and the work of Dying) (2013) by Karla Erickson. Discusses the ambiguous time between fully living and death. Draws on the experiences of care givers in this gray period.

In Search of Gentle Death (2012), by Richard M. Cote. Going back to 1975, Cote gives the history of the right-to-die movement by looking at the world leaders of the movement.

Peaceful Transitions – Stories of Success and Compassion (2011; 180 pp.) by Stanley Terman, M.D.

Euthanasia – Choice and Death (2005), by Gail Tullock. Discusses the philosophical and legal issues raised by euthanasia.

Talking About Death (2001), by Virginia Morris, a journalist. The end of life is often painful and lonely, but it can be a beautiful and enriching experience for all — if you plan for it. No forms.

California Law Here is the California law (Probate code sections 4700-4701) and the statutory form. Free.