About the Author

Deborah Golden Alecson is a thanatologist and adjunct professor. She designed and teaches a course in medical humanities for the School of Liberal Arts at Excelsior College. She has taught "Ethics of Health Care," "Death, Dying and Bereavement," "Spirituality in Life Transitions," and "The Sociology of Health and Illness" for the Schools of Health Science and Nursing at Excelsior College. She has created a course in thanatology that she teaches for Williams College during their Winter Study semester. She writes a monthly newspaper column called "Musings on Mortality." She lectures on and writes about dying well in a death-phobic culture as well as other topics. Her website is: http: //www.deborahgoldenalecson.com/ Lucille Marchand, M.D., BSN Director of Palliative Care at University of Washington Medical Center Professor and Section Chief of Palliative Care, Department of Family Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle WA