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Stanley A. Terman, Ph.D., M.D. with Ronald B. Miller, M.D. & Michael S. Evans, J.D., M.S.W.

Stanley A. Terman received his B.A. from Brown University, his Ph.D. from M.I.T., and his M.D. from U. Iowa. A board-certified psychiatrist, he was on the faculty of the University of California, Irvine. Now he heads Peaceful Transitions® and Caring Advocates®, whose staffs of clinical, legal, and spiritual professionals assist patients and families facing end-of-life challenges. Dr. Terman has participated actively in three bioethics committees in San Diego, and is on the consulting staff of the San Diego Hospice. He has appeared before California's Law Revision Commission and has served as chief of staff at a local psychiatric hospital. He sometimes testifies in civil cases as an expert. In his clinical practice, Dr. Terman assesses patients' judgment when they wish to create Advance Directives, appoint a power of attorney for medical or financial decisions, or Refuse Food & Fluid.

In these days of political polarities, Dr. Terman tries to maintain a balanced approach. He provides advice to those who wish to avoid prolonged, unnecessary end-of- life suffering or the progressive indignity and dependency of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias by exercising the legal peaceful choice of Voluntary Refusal of Food & Fluid (sometimes, by Proxy). Yet he has also criticized the actions of Dr. Kevorkian and declined to join the former Hemlock Society. If asked what beliefs he holds most dear, his answers are, "We are morally obligated to honor a patient's previously expressed wishes," and "Do everything possible to learn directly from the patient, what she or he wants." In the latter context, Dr. Terman's declaration was submitted to Florida Judge George Greer in the fiercely litigated case of Terri Schiavo.

Dr. Terman has written a medical thriller, Lethal Choice, which is based on a conspiracy theory of Physician-Assisted Suicide that explores end-of-life ethical principles, and is the primary author of The Best Way to Say Goodbye: A Legal Peaceful Choice at the End of Life. This "book-within-a-book" strives to meet the needs of both general and professional readers with memoirs, humorous tales, cartoons, practical guidelines, and over 250 medical references and legal citations. Dr. Terman is also the contributing editor to Last Wishes: Memoirs and Professional Advice on Peaceful Transitions, a forthcoming anthology.

Dr. Terman's interests in part are reflected by the titles of his lecture offerings: "Do We Need to Legalize Physician-Assisted Suicide" "Why Refusing Food and Fluid may be the BEST WAY to say goodbye" "How to plan ahead for a dignified death if the diagnosis is Alzheimer's" "A Critique of The President's Council on Bioethics report, Taking Care" and "Does art accurately reflect the last chapter of life?" (in which he discusses Hollywood's depiction of end-of-life decisions and dementia). Dr. Terman's family includes Elias and Alex (his sons); Sharon (his daughter); Alex's wife, Nadine; and Emily and Lauren (Beth's daughters). He lives in Carlsbad-by-the-Sea with his wife, Beth Gardner, and two Pomeranian dogs.

Full Curriculum Vitae

Ronald B. Miller, M.D., is Clinical Professor of Medicine Emeritus and Director of the Program in Medical Ethics Emeritus at the University of California, Irvine College of Medicine. He has devoted his professional career to the care of patients with kidney disease; to research and teaching in kidney disease, dialysis, and transplantation; and in the last two decades to the ethical issues in medicine which he has taught to college and medical students. He served as critical reader and contributor to sections of this book and is a consulting advisor for Caring Advocates based on the following experience: He has cared for patients with end-stage renal disease some of whom elected to discontinue the life-sustaining treatment of chronic dialysis. He has served on the health care ethics committees of four hospitals and co-founded the Orange County Bioethics Network. He has written over 90 articles, two dozen of which deal with Advance Directives; end-of-life care; withholding, limiting, or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment; and physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia. He has served on the Council on Ethical Affairs of the California Medical Association; and he has testified to the California Assembly Select Committee on Palliative Care, the California Law Revision Commission on the Healthcare Decisions Act, and the Senate-Assembly Health Committees’ hearing on the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Act. In 1997, he was a co-signator with other bioethicists of an amicus curiae brief to the U. S. Supreme Court on two cases concerning the Constitutional right to Physician-Assisted Suicide.

Michael S. Evans J.D., M.S.W., is an attorney and has been a member of the California Bar since 1970. He is also trained as a social worker. For 13 years he was in private law practice which included litigation involving criminal defense, mental health commitments, and divorce. He taught at the graduate level in the School of Social Work, San Diego State University, and for six years at the University of San Diego Law School. More recently, he served as legal advisor to three right-to-choose-to-die organizations. He authored model Advance Health Care Directives to broaden the range of choices available under California’s Health Care Decisions Law and he drafted model legislation to further expand end-of-life choices for Californians. He has served on two bioethics committees in San Diego. In the late 1990s he co-founded the Center for Professional Ethics and Law, a non-profit organization which among its projects, examined the impact of court-room advocacy on the professional ethics of expert witnesses during litigation. As legal advisor to the Center, he also counsels individuals on creating and implementing Advance Directives to meet the many challenges of making end-of-life decisions.