Index - L

Last Acts Partnership, 57

Leading causes of death
     age and, 21, 23t-24t, 137t-138t
     among elderly, 135-139
     by age, 137t-138t
     infant mortality, 41-42, 46t-47t
     infants, 41-42, 46t-47t
     ranking of, 22t

Legislation and international treaties
     Assisted Suicide Funding Restriction Act, 66-67, 66f
     Balanced Budget Act of 1997, 120
     Birth Defects Prevention Act, 45
     Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, 36
     Controlled Substances Act, 73-74
     Death with Dignity Act (Oregon), 70t, 73-75, 156
     Pain Relief Promotion Act (proposed), 73-74
     Patient Self-Determination Act, 89-90, 99
     Ryan White Comprehensive Aids Resources Emergency (CARE) Act, 127, 130t-131t, 132t-133t
     Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide (Review Procedures) Act (Netherlands), 76
     Terri's Law (Florida), 111
     Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, 33, 36
     Uniform Determination of Death Act, 9
     Uniform Health Care Decisions Act (UHCDA), 80, 87

Life expectancy, 45t, 135, 148t

Life-sustaining treatment
     artificial nutrition and hydration, 28, 32t, 83
     cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), 26-27
     decision making for infants and children, 48-51, 54-56
     Do Not Resuscitate orders, 26-27, 27f
     hospitals' rights, 105-106
     kidney dialysis, 29
     living wills, 80
     mechanical ventilation, 27-28, 102
     nontreatment directives, 80
     patients' right to forego, 18
     persistent vegetative state, 31-32, 31t, 32t
     See also Withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment

Limited-objective test for removing life-sustaining treatment, 105

Living wills, 79-81, 80f, 81f, 85-86, 89f

Lo, Bernard, 25-26

Locked-in syndrome, 29t, 31

Long-term health care home health care, 121, 123-125, 124f, 125(t 9.10)
     Medicare home health care spending, 125(t 9.11)
     nursing home care, 124-125, 126t, 142, 154

Low birthweight infants, 47, 49t-50t, 51t-53t, 54t