ABSTRACT
Happy-death activism is suggested by the burgeoning body of academic literature on death. There exists in the United States a collection of interests that coalesce around the idea that death can be a tolerable and maybe even a happy affair. Taken together, groups that advance death with dignity, natural death, and the right to die form what Lofland calls the "happy-death movement." The academic founding of the happy-death movement can be traced to the 1950s. In 1986, the Hospice Association of America was formed as a lobbying and credentialing organization; it soon began publishing Hospice Forum, another symbol and catalyst of academic and professional legitimacy within the happy-death movement. The issue of "forum-shopping" was raised, highlighting the disparity in approaches to right-to die cases in different parts of the country. The Foundation of Thanatology, a more clinically based right-to-die advocacy group, was formed in 1967 to improve psychological, social, and medical care for critically ill patients.
