In The Arms Of Others
When, if ever, is life no longer worth living? When, if ever, is it right to withdraw life-support or hasten death? These questions—which confront physicians, bioethicists, social workers, the children of aging parents, and sooner or later almost everyone—now receive increasingly urgent attention in American society. Peter Filene’s In the Arms of Others is the first book to set this dilemma into broad historical and cultural context. It is, in other words, a history of the “right to die” as...
Search in google:
In this cultural history of the right-to-die in America, Mr. Filene navigates the maze of bioethical arguments surrounding the issue, analyzing complex questions with remarkable lucidity. A unique and valuable contribution. --Daniel Callahan, The Hastings Center Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science - Vibrant and piercingly detailed.
AcknowledgmentsStarting OutPrologue: A Good Death31Death on Trial112Modern Dying473The Subjectivity of Dying744The Politics of Dying965Dying on One's Own1256A Tapestry of Relatedness1617Suicide with Assistance1848Cultures of Dying201Notes223Index275
\ CHOICEA most valuable contribution to the literature of death and dying.\ \ \ \ \ Timothy E. QuillPeter Filene's analysis should be read by anyone who wishes a deeper understanding of what is at stake in our current cultural debate about medicineís proper role at the end of life.\ \ \ Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social SciencesVibrant and piercingly detailed.\ \ \ \ \ David BarnardA terrifically well-written narrative...Filene has a gift for bringing legal and ethical arguments vividly to life.\ \ \ \ \ Daniel CallahanA unique and valuable contribution.\ \ \ \ \ Renée C. FoxClarifying and helpful...follows the escalating concern about death and dying in American society since the 1960s, and the unfolding concept of the 'right to die.'\ \ \ \ \ Linda GanziniEngaging narrative...difficult to put down and has given me new insights into our peculiarly American way.\ \ \ \ \ Journal of the American Medical AssociationPeter Filene explains to us our beliefs and expectations, their tension and contradictions, in order to examine the changes in our attitude toward death during the last 30 years. His book would be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in the right-to-die movement. The ethical, legal, and medical issues are clearly presented, blending seamlessly with the cultural history. In the Arms of Others, with its engaging narrative, is difficult to put down and has given me new insights into our peculiarly American way.\ \ \ \ \ New England Journal of MedicineFilene has a gift for bringing legal and ethical arguments vividly to life.\ \ \ \ \ From The CriticsVibrant and piercingly detailed. \ —Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science\ \ \ \ \ BooknewsWith the landmark 1976 "right to die" court case of comatose Karen Ann Quinlan at the heart of his analysis, Filene (history, U. of North Carolina-Chapel Hill) illuminates the unique historical, cultural, and bioethical issues bedeviling treatment of the terminally ill and assisted suicide in this country. He considers the Dutch experience, the Hemlock Society, Dr. Kevorkian, and Oregon's 1994 "Death with Dignity" initiative. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.\ \ \ \ \ Daniel CallahanA unique and valuable contribution.\ — The Hastings Center\ \ \ \ \ Kirkus ReviewsA well-crafted history weaving together the complex legal, moral, political, psychological, and social issues surrounding the right-to-die movement in the US. Filene (author of Him/Her/Self, 1975, and the novel Home and Away, 1992), a professor of history at the University of North Carolina, focuses on the Karen Ann Quinlan case, which he calls an "earthquake" that "reshaped the cultural landscape." He places this pivotal event in historical context, tracing the evolution of the concept of euthanasia from the 19th-century idea of the easy, natural death to that of mercy killing by a physician, and, in the midst of growing concern about medical technology's ability to prolong the dying process, the emergence of a new concept, the right to die. Filene describes the right-to-die movement as a river fed by two dynamic social forces of the 1960s, the therapeutic human-potential movement and the equal-rights movement, and he shows how the notion of medical civil rights has fared in hospitals, courts, and legislatures in the last two decades. He analyzes the shifting attitudes toward assisted suicide and documents the advent of and growing interest in living wills, devices whose shortcomings he is careful to point out. Death, he notes, must be viewed in a cultural context, and he offers two contrasting ones: Bali, where the death of an individual is celebrated by the whole community, and the Netherlands, where a consensus has been reached that the individual has the right to a doctor's help in dying. As a society, Filene says, we are moving toward acceptance of physician-assisted suicide, but death with dignity will remain elusive until health care is available for all and thecomfort care of hospices is widespread—and until we understand that our much-valued autonomy depends on relatedness to others. Thoughtful study that brings needed clarity and perspective to a serious and controversial issue. (b&w illustrations, not seen)\ \
