Title: Choosing medical care in old age : what kind, how much, when to stop /
Authors: Gillick, Muriel R., 1951-
Publisher: Harvard University Press,
Year: 1994
Subjects: Older people Medical care.; Health Services for the Aged; Long-Term Care Aged.; Aged; Long-Term Care
Abstract: To make decisions about medical care in old age, we need to know more about the reality of being elderly and sick, and Choosing Medical Care in Old Age gives us the opportunity. Muriel Gillick, a noted physician who specializes in the care of the elderly and in medical ethics, presents a panoply of stories drawn from her clinical experience. These encounters, with the robust and the frail, the demented and the dying, capture the texture of the experience of being old and faced with critical medical questions. From the stories of older people struggling to make choices in the face of acute illness, stories that are often poignant and sometimes tragic, Gillick develops broad guidelines for medical decision-making for the elderly. An intelligent and deeply compassionate inquiry into the difficult issues and real-life dilemmas raised by current practices, her book offers a first step toward those changes.
Contents: 1. Robbed of Mind and Memory: The Demented Elderly -- 2. Blessed with Vim and Vigor: The Robust Elderly -- 3. Facing the Final Days: The Dying Elderly -- 4. Living with Limited Reserves: The Frail Elderly -- 5. The Means to the Ends: Institutional Changes.