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? And who should decide? These questions—that 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.