Last Rights

Last Rights examines end-of-life decisions in the context of the Roman Catholic tradition, a heritage rich in its teaching about the human person, the value of life, and the moral rights and responsibilities inherent to every human being. Written for Catholics seeking a better understanding of their own tradition, ministers who deal with Catholic patients, those who wish to learn more about the Catholic perspective, and ordinary decision-makers who must face these complex issues, Last Rights includes cross-references, a glossary, and an appendix and bibliography that provide resources for further study and helpful tools for end-of-life decision-making.

This book deals with the end-game for a business. No business entity lasts forever and anyone faced with the task of liquidating a business at the end of its run needs to know that a liquidation doesn't present an insurmountable problem. In fact, substantial value is often overlooked. This book explains the various options for liquidations and the pros and cons for each possibility. The book also can be used as a clear how-to guide for someone who wishes to undertake the job of a liquidator or trustee. From start to finish, the book lays out the steps and pitfalls in liquidations.

In Last Rights, award-winning journalist Stephen P. Kiernan shows how patients and families can regain control of the dying process, creating familial intimacy like never before. "Gripping...A superb resource for boomers dealing with their parents' final days...as well as for health-care professionals who need to hear this story from the other side."-Kirkus Reviews With advances in medicine, technology, and daily diet and exercise practices, Americans are living longer than ever before. We have an unprecedented opportunity for meaningful closure – free of pain, among loved ones, with our affairs in order and spiritual calm attained. Instead, most of us discover that our doctor has minimal training in providing end-of-life care, and will seek to extend life no matter how painful, expensive and futile that effort might be. Bolstered by both scientific research and intimate portraits of people from all walks of life, Last Rights offers a hopeful, profound vision for patients, doctors, and families: a way to honor people during their greatest vulnerability, a chance for families to reconnect, an opportunity for the medical system to treat patients with ultimate respect, a time to give comfort and compassion to those we most love.

Why does the UK abandon dying people and outsource this problem to facilities in Switzerland while legislators across the USA, Canada and Australia have drafted laws to give dying people choice over how and when they die? Sarah Wootton, CEO of the campaign group Dignity in Dying, explains why assisted dying's time has come. Drawing parallels with issues such as women's suffrage, reproductive rights and equal marriage, Wootton exposes the hypocrisy of the arguments put forward by those who oppose change and examines how a broken status quo has been imposed against the wishes of dying people for too long.

Written by William E. Berry, Sandra Braman, Clifford Christians, Thomas G. Guback, Steven J. Helle, Louis W. Liebovich, John C. Nerone, and Kim B. Rotzoll In Last Rights, eight communications scholars at the University of Illinois critique and expand on an influential classic that has been used as text or whipping boy in communications and journalism classes since the mid-1950s.The authors argue that Four Theories of the Press, now in its fourteenth printing, spoke to and for a world beset by a cold war that no longer exists. They also praise it for its value both as a curricular vehicle providing an alternative way of looking at the press and society and as a tool to help scholars and laypeople grapple with contradictions in classical liberalism. As much about the present and future as it is about the past, Last Rights also raises questions about the electronic superhighway, underscoring major changes that have taken place in communications systems and society since publication of the best-selling Four Theories.

Many elderly, sick Americans who have no prospect of improved health prefer death to indefinite suffering. Others are incompetent to decide their own fate. Last Rights describes the economic and social forces that are propelling us toward controlling who dies--and when.

When she died, Christine O'Gara left behind a fragile, fractured family—estranged, embittered and at odds over custody of her only child. But in time, they'll see that Christine's legacy is strong enough to finally give a young girl the father she deserves. Cora, Christine's mother—No stranger to loss, she's desperate to do right by her daughter and she'll fight with everything she's got. Lexie, Christine's daughter—Torn between grief and rage at the thought of living with the man who abandoned them, she's planning revenge. Alex, Christine's ex-husband—Never truly believed in his own worth…or understood what Christine saw in him. He'd tried to return to her, but he'd been turned away. Only now can he come back and prove Christine right. We can't choose our family. We can learn to deserve the love we crave from them.