Aging And Ethics

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

   PDF

2. The Aging Individual

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

      PDF

   2. The Meaning of Life

      • Kurt Baier

      Pages 3-49

   3. The Meaning of Life in Old Age

      • Harry R. Moody

      Pages 51-92

   4. Oedipus and the Meaning of Aging

      • Thomas R. Cole

      Pages 93-111

   5. Recovering the Body in Aging

      • Sally Gadow

      Pages 113-120

3. Aging and Filial Responsibility

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 121-121

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   2. The Aging Society as a Context for Family Life

      • Gunhild O. Hagestad

      Pages 123-146

   3. What Do Grown Children Owe Their Parents?

      • Jane English

      Pages 147-154

   4. Families as Caregivers

      • Daniel Callahan

      Pages 155-170

   5. Health Care and Decision Making

      • Sara T. Fry

      Pages 171-186

   6. Rethinking Family Loyalties

      • Evelyn M. Barker

      Pages 187-198

   7. The Role of Intimate Others in Medical Decision Making

      • Nancy S. Jecker

      Pages 199-216

4. Distributive Justice in an Aging Society

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 217-217

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   2. Limiting Health Care for the Old

      • Daniel Callahan

      Pages 219-226

   3. A Lifespan Approach to Health Care

      • Norman Daniels

      Pages 227-246

   4. Old Age and the Rationing of Scarce Health Care Resources

      • Mark H. Waymack

      Pages 247-267

   5. Appeals to Nature in Theories of Age-Group Justice

      • Nancy S. Jecker

      Pages 269-283

   6. Paying the Real Costs of Lifesaving

      • Paul T. Menzel

      Pages 285-305

   7. Intent and Actuality

      • Jane A. Boyajian

      Pages 307-338

The Aging Self and the Aging Society Ethical issues involving the elderly have recently come to the fore. This should come as no surprise: Since the turn of the century, there has been an eightfold in­ crease in the number of Americans over the age of sixty­ five, and almost a tripling of their proportion to the general population. Those over the age of eighty-five-­ the fastest growing group in the country-are twenty­ one more times as numerous as in 1900. Demographers expect this trend to accelerate into the twenty-first century. The aging of society casts into vivid relief a num­ ber of deep and troubling questions. On the one hand, as individuals, we grapple with the immediate experience of aging and mortality and seek to find in it philosophical or ethical significance. We also wonder what responsi­ bilities we bear toward aging family members and what expectations of others our plans for old age can reasona­ bly include. On the other hand, as a community, we must decide: What special role, if any, do older persons occupy in our society? What constitutes a just distribution of medical resources between generations? And, How can institutions that serve the old foster imperiled values, such as autonomy, self-respect, and dignity? Only recently have we begun to explore these themes, yet already a rich and fruitful literature has grown up around them.

• Ethical Issues
• age
• aging
• autonomy
• death
• ethics
• gerontology
• health
• morality

A sound collection, including both classic and new work. It poses an excellent challenge to those setting out to rethink old age.-Ethics

• University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, USA

  Nancy S. Jecker

Policies and ethics