Kiernan, Stephen P. 1960- (Stephen Patrick Kiernan)

PERSONAL:

Born March 14, 1960, in Albany, NY; son of Peter DeLacy and Mary Agnes Kiernan; married Amy Love Wright, September 11, 1993; children: William Patrick. Education: Middlebury College, B.A., 1982; Johns Hopkins University, M.A., 1983; University of Iowa, M.F.A., 1989.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Burlington Free Press, 191 College St., Burlington, VT 05401-8300.

CAREER:

IBM, Albany, NY, marketing representative, 1983-88; Burlington Free Press, Burlington, VT, business editor, 1990-92, assistant city editor, 1992-93, editorial writer, 1993, columnist, 1995—. New England Young Writers Conference, Breadloaf, VT, faculty member, 1991-94. Member of board of directors, Brautigan Library, Burlington.

AWARDS, HONORS:

George Polk Award.

WRITINGS:

Last Rights: Rescuing the End of Life from the Medical System, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Journalist Stephen P. Kiernan and his family had to deal with the stress, expense, and emotional trauma of seeing a loved one slowly die when his mother was diagnosed with inoperable cancer. Along the way, he witnessed just how poorly hospitals and doctors deal with death, typically administering expensive and painful treatments to prolong the lives of terminal patients and depriving them of the right to die with dignity and on their own terms. In his first book, Last Rights: Rescuing the End of Life from the Medical System, Kiernan reports that, although treatment for the terminally ill is improving, the medical profession still does not deal well with the issue. He argues that medical schools and teaching hospitals need to provide students and young doctors with more guidance and instruction, and that lawmakers need to be more lenient in allowing medications for pain control. Backing up his ideas with interviews and his own experiences, Kiernan urges allowing more people to face death naturally, and on their own terms. A Kirkus Reviews contributor called Last Rights a "superb resource for boomers dealing with their parents' final days … as well as for health-care professionals." Library Journal critic Ross Mullner called Kiernan's book a "well-written and thoughtful" work that "compassionately and skillfully addresses this difficult, emotional issue."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, November 1, 2006, Donna Chavez, review of Last Rights: Rescuing the End of Life from the Medical System, p. 7.

Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2006, review of Last Rights, p. 888.

Library Journal, November 1, 2006, Ross Mullner, review of Last Rights, p. 102.