I have permission from Amacom Books to distribute an
excerpt from the new book, "UNPLUGGED: Reclaiming our Right
to Die in America," by William Colby. The author was the
family attorney in the landmark Nancy Cruzan case -- the
first right-to-die case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court --
and was stirred to write this book by the recent Terri
Schiavo drama.

The excerpt I'm distributing is called "How We Die in
America." If you're like most people, you want to live as
long as possible, then die quickly and painlessly at home.
That's probably not going to happen. Today, 80% of
Americans die in an institution. In most cases, they don't
die a "natural" death -- someone decides to let them go.
Every day, 7000 Americans die by decision. This book is
about who gets to make that decision, when, and how.

The excerpt has some incredible revelations about the
contrast between how we *think* we're going to die and how
we're actually likely to check out. For example, though a
quarter of Americans have a living will or medical
directive, less than 5% of patients have a copy in their
charts. Not that a living will does much good: two-thirds
of physicians say they ignore living wills that contradict
their own judgment. Isn't that comforting!

To get the excerpt, send mailto:stevokeefe@bellsouth.net
with the subject line "Send Unplugged" and I will reply
with the text -- and *only* the text -- NO file attachments
or opt-in mailing list jive. Thank you.