Description
Book SynopsisWhen, 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 viewed in the United States. With the narrative skills he has displayed in his fiction, Mr. Filene takes the reader into the lives and feelings of people who have struggled with the predicament of modern dying. Beginning with the nineteenth-century background and the rise of medical technology, he moves quickly to the landmark case of Karen Ann Quinlan, who became in the 1970s the macabre protagonist of a melodrama that crystallized the nation's consciousness and produced a legal benchmark. Mr. Filene explores the maze of bioethical arguments surrounding this and succeeding cases, and guides readers through complex questions with remarkable lucidity. Ultimately, he argues, we must acknowledge that traditional American self-determination is not sufficient to resolve terrible questions of life and death; what we need is an ethic of relatedness.
Trade ReviewA fine general overview of the right-to-die question. * Library Journal *
Peter 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. -- Timothy E. Quill
Thoughtful, comprehensively researched...despite the difficult subject, this compelling book is a page turner. * Publishers Weekly *
Vibrant and piercingly detailed. -- Henry R. Glick * Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences *
A terrifically well-written narrative...Filene has a gift for bringing legal and ethical arguments vividly to life. -- David Barnard, Ph.D.,
New England Journal of Medicine
A unique and valuable contribution. -- Daniel Callahan, cofounder and President Emeritus, The Hastings Center
A most valuable contribution to the literature of death and dying. * CHOICE *
Clarifying 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.' -- Renée C. Fox, Annenberg Professor of the Social Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, and author of distinguished books in the sociology of me
Engaging narrative...difficult to put down and has given me new insights into our peculiarly American way. -- Linda Ganzini, MD, JAMA
