Drawing on his own experience, and on literature, philosophy, and medicine, Daniel Callahan offers great insight into how to deal with the rewards of modern medicine without upsetting our perception of death. He examines how we view death and the care of the critically ill or dying, and he suggests ways of understanding death that can lead to a peaceful acceptance. Callahan's thoughtful perspective notably enhances the legal and moral discussions about end-of-life issues.
Originally published in 1993 by Simon and Schuster.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Can Death Be Shaped to Our Own Ends?
1. The First Illusion: Mastering Our Medical Choices
2. Stripping Death Bare: The Recovery of Nature
3. The Last Illusion: Regulating Euthanasia
4. Living with the Mortal Self
5. Nature, Death, and Meaning: Shaping Our End
6. Pursuing a Peaceful Death
7. Watching and Waiting
Notes
Index
Reviews
"A beautiful book, richly suggestive and wise. . . . This book puts the rampant debate about our contemporary responses to suffering and death in a new light."—Commonweal
"Valuable and lucid."—Chicago Tribune
"Of the many books that deal with death and dying, end-of-life care, and assisted suicide, none surpasses the work of Daniel Callahan, a name practically synonymous with the emergence of bioethics in this country. His work, The Troubled Dream of Life, is required reading for anyone who cares to think about the place of death in our lives."—Clergy Journal
About the Author
The co-founder and former president of the Hastings Center, Daniel Callahan is currently the director of international programs there and author of Setting Limits: Medical Goals in an Aging Society, and What Kind of Life? The Limits of Medical Progress (Georgetown University Press).
