Patients' Knowledge of Options at the End of Life

Abstract
For the past 25 years, US citizens have sought increased control over their experience of dying.1,2 In the courts, they have ensured their rights to refuse and withdraw life-sustaining treatment, while in the legislature, they have had laws passed to promote the use of advance directives (the 1990 Patient Self-Determination Act)3 and to legalize physician-assisted suicide (the 1994 Oregon Death with Dignity Act).4