Aging : decisions at the end of life

Abstract

Some of the most poignant issues in human relations arise from decisions that are taken at the end of life. At these moments, decision-makers are faced with questions that test the limits of social and familial obligation. Responding to these issues challenges not only the moral integrity of individual and public value systems, but also the legitimacy of legal structures and underlying institutional supports. Decisions at the End of Life is the last volume in a trilogy on Aging conceived for the International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine. Leading scholars from a range of disciplines examine some of the most emotive topics in the study of aging: assessing quality of life, improving end-of-life care, palliative care, euthanasia, and consent to research.

How we think (deeply but with limits) about quality of life: The necessity of wisdom for aging / Peter J. Whitehouse, Jessie Ballenger & Sid Katz -- Ethics and quality of life in the elderly / Fernando Lolas -- Palliative care: A weak link in the chain of civilized life / Linda L. Emanuel -- Assisted death in the Netherlands and its relationship with age / Gerrit K. Kimsma -- Why euthanasia should not be legalized: A reflection on the Dutch experiment / Henk Jochemsen -- Managing death: End-of-life charades and decisions / George P. Smith, II -- Challenges and dilemmas in the "aging and euthanasia" policy cocktail / Roger S. Magnusson -- End-of-life decisions in terminal illness: A psychiatric perspective / Lorraine Sherr & Fabrizio Starace -- Suicide: Implications for an aging society / Naoki Watanabe, Manabu Taguchi & Kazuo Hasegawa -- Research on elderly subjects: Striking the right balance / Arthur Schafer -- Community consent for research on the impaired elderly / David C. Thomasma -- Regulating ethical research involving cognitively impaired elderly subjects: Canada as a case study / George F. Tomossy, David N. Weisstub & Serge Gauthier.

261 page(s)