Front Matter -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Contents -- TABLES, FIGURES, AND BOXES -- Summary -- 1 Introduction -- 2 A Profile of Death and Dying in America -- 3 Caring at the End of Life -- 4 The Health Care System and the Dying Patient -- 5 Accountability and Quality in End-of-Life Care -- 6 Financial and Economic Issues in End-of-Life Care -- 7 Legal Issues -- 8 Educating Clinicians and Other Professionals -- 9 Directions for Research to Improve Care at the End of Life -- 10 Conclusions and Recommendations -- References -- A Institute of Medicine Feasibility Study on Care at the End of Life1 August 1993-February 1994 -- B Institute of Medicine Committee on Care at the End of Life Public Meetings -- C Examples of Initiatives to Improve Care at the End of Life* -- D Prognosis and Clinical Predictive Models for Critically Ill Patients -- E Cultural Diversity in Decisionmaking About Care at the End of Life -- F Measuring Care at the End of Life -- G Excerpts from Medical Guidelines for Determining Prognosis in Selected NonCancer Diseases* -- H American Board of Internal Medicine Clinical Competence in End-of-Life Care* -- I Examples of Medical Education Curricula -- J Committee Biographies -- Index.