Research Catalog

Title

Going against the stream : ethical aspects of ageing and care / Peter Jeffery.

Author

Jeffery, Peter, 1937-

Publication

Collegeville, MN : Liturgical Press, 2001.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

xxi, 282 p.; 22 cm.

Summary

If the twentieth century was marked by the terrible ferocity of war and the marvelous advance of science, it was also marked by people living almost twice as long as in the previous century. This increase in lifespan passed almost unnoticed at first, but in the last ten years the problems of an older population have come home to the Western world. The care they need and the fact that with the increase in age goes an increase in frailty poses many new ethical problems. Can we afford to maintain such a large elderly population? How do you respect the autonomy of the elderly? How much should you strive to keep an eighty-year-old alive? These and many other questions are what this book attempts to face from within a Judaeo-Christian framework. While these questions are very important, there is a need to go beyond practical solutions and look at the inspiration that drives the answers proposed by society today. Is caring for the frail just a professional approach to problems? Are modern attitudes actually destroying the basis of care? Is it necessary to go against the stream?

Subject

• Aging
• Ethics, Clinical
• Health Services for the Aged
• Long-Term Care
• Medical ethics
• Older people > Moral and ethical aspects

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Foreword / Peter Millard -- 1. Too Many Old People Cost Too Much -- 2. The Ministry of Caring for the Elderly -- 3. Authentic Autonomy in Elderly Care -- 4. The Long Goodbye -- 5. Mortal Questions -- 6. Opening the Final Door -- Conclusion: The Challenge of the Future -- App. I. To Treat or Not to Treat: The Debate -- App. II. The Position of the Catholic Church -- App. III. An Ethical Framework for Clinical Decision-Making at the End of Life.

ISBN

• 081462801X (alk. paper)
• 0852445415 (UK)

LCCN

^^2001033746

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library