Excerpt from How We Die by Sherwin B Nuland, published by Chatto & Windus. Reproduced with permission of Random House Group Ltd.
Excerpt from ‘Do not go gentle into that good night’ by Dylan Thomas from Poems, published by JM Dent, a division of the Orion Publishing Group. Reproduced with permission from David Higham Associates.
Excerpt from Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot reproduced with permission of Faber.
Excerpt from Malone Dies by Samuel Beckett reproduced with permission of Faber.
Poems by David Hart reproduced with permission of the author and Five Seasons Press.
All efforts have been made to obtain permission for the use of the excerpt from Truman of St Helens by Shirley Rosen. Anyone with rights to this book is invited to contact the author.
1* from How We Die, Sherwin B Nuland, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1993
2* It is very difficult to remove a feed-peg because it is a life-maintaining device. It requires a major medical/legal decision and this is not easy to come by.
3** Ahronheim, J C, Morrison, R S, Baskin, S A, Morris, J, Meier, D E. Treatment of the dying in the acute care hospital. Advanced dementia and metastatic cancer. Archives of Internal Medicine, 1996; 156: 2094-100.
4* A joule is a unit of heat, energy and force – in this case electricity.
5* For an update, see Appendix I, Medical Aspects of Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation, by David Hackett, MD, FRCP, FESC.
6* From Shirley Rosen,‘ Truman of St Helens’, published by Madrona Publishers, Seattle, Washington State, 1981
7* Dylan Thomas, 1951.
8* The Resuscitation Council. http://www.resus.org.uk/SiteIndx.htm
9* The Resuscitation Council. http://www.resus.org.uk/pages/mediMain.htm
10* Gwinnutt C, Columb M, Harris R. Outcome after cardiac arrest in adults in UK hospitals: effect of the 1997 guidelines. Resuscitation 2000; 47: 125-135. http://www.resuscitationjournal.com/article/S0300-9572(00)00212-4/abstract f National Cardiac Arrest Audit (NCAA). https://www.icnarc.org/
11* Diem SJ, Lantos JD, TulskyJA. Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation on Television - Miracles and Misinformation. New Engl J Med 1996; 334: 1578-152. http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/334/24/1578
12† Stiell IG, Wells GA, Field B et al, for the Ontario Prehospital Advanced Life Support Study Group. Advanced Cardiac Life Support in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest. New EnglJ Med 2004; 3 51:647-656.http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/351/7/647 £ HerlitzJ, Bang A, GunnarssonJ, EngdahlJ, Karlson BW, LindqvistJ, Waagstein L. Factors associated with survival to hospital discharge among patients hospitalised alive after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: change in outcome over 20 years in the community of Goteborg, Sweden. Heart 2003; 89: 25-30. http://heart.bmj.com/content/89/1/25.abstract
13* Sasson C, Rogers MAM, Dahl J, Kellermann AL. Predictors of Survival From Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest. A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. 2010; 3: 63-81. http://circoutcomes.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/short/3/1/63
14† The Public Access Defibrillation Trial Investigators. Public-Access Defibrillation and Survival after Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest. New Engl J Med 2004; 351: 637- 646. http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/351/7/637
15* Morrison LJ, Visentin LM, Kiss A, Theriault R, Eby D, Vermeulen M, Sherbino J, Verbeek PR, for the TOR Investigators. Validation of a Rule for Termination of Resuscitation in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest. New Engl J Med 2006; 355: 478- 487. http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/355/5/478
16* Neumar RW, Nolan J P, Adrie C et al. Post-Cardiac Arrest Syndrome. Epidemiology, Pathophysiology, Treatment, and Prognostication. A Consensus Statement From the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation. Circulation 2008; 118: 2452-2483. http://circ.ahajournals.org/
17† Fischer M, Fischera NJ, Schuttlerb J. One-year survival after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Bonn city: outcome report according to the ‘Utstein style’. Resuscitation 1997; 33: 233-243. http://www.resuscitationjournal.com/ X http://www.karenannquinlan.org/
18* The Resuscitation Council. http://www.resus.org.uk/pages/DNARrstd.htm
19† Allowing a Natural Death: http://allowingnaturaldeath.org/
20† The NHS National Gold Standards Framework Centre. http://www.goldstandards framework.nhs.uk/
21* The NHS Gold Standards Framework. http://www.goldstandardsframework. nhs.uk/
22† Avon, Somerset and Wiltshire Cancer Services Allow a Natural Death (do not attempt resuscitation) Order. http://www.aswcs.nhs.uk/
23† Dignity in Dying. http://www.dignityindying.org.uk/
24* Treatment and care towards the end of life: Good practice in decision making. http://www.gmc-uk.org/End_of_life.pdf_32486688.pdf
25* Mental Capacity Act 2005. http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/
26* The Resuscitation Council. http://www.resus.org.uk/pages/witness.htm