Education
University of Illinois system.
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Ronald Cranford
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He is best known for his work with families on public cases involving persons in a persistent vegetative state. He and three other doctors were responsible for introducing the "do not resuscitate" order. He worked with the families of such notable cases as Karen Ann Quinlan, Paul Brophy, Nancy Cruzan and Terri Schiavo.
Cranford was born in Peoria, Illinois.
He earned a bachelor"s degree in biology and his medical degree in 1965 from the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago. He was a flight surgeon in the United States. Air Force during the Vietnam War.
He held numerous posts with neurologic and ethics societies. In the mid-1970s, Doctor Cranford founded and chaired the Thanatology Committee at Hennepin County Medical Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, to examine and improve end-of-life care.
With Steven Miles, Doctor of Medicine, Doctor Cranford and Alvin Shultz, Doctor of Medicine, introduced the Do not resuscitate (DNR) order.
His testimony to the President"s Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research was incorporated in their seminal 1981 report, “Defining Death,” and their 1983 report, “Deciding to Forego Life-Sustaining Treatment.” Doctor Cranford published about 60 articles in the medical literature principally on states of unconsciousness and end-of-life care. In March 2006, his last letter in The Lancet condemned the force-feeding of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
