IntroductionCan Death Be Shaped to Our Own Ends?

1. The First Illusion: Mastering Our Medical Choices

2. Stripping Death Bare: The Recovery of Nature

3. The Last Illusion: Regulating Euthanasia

4. Living with the Mortal Self

5. Nature, Death, and Meaning: Shaping Our End

6. Pursuing a Peaceful Death

7. Watching and Waiting

Notes

Index

Drawing on his own experience, and on literature, philosophy, and medicine, Daniel Callahan offers great insight into how to deal with the rewards of modern medicine without upsetting our perception of death. He examines how we view death and the care of the critically ill or dying, and he suggests ways of understanding death that can lead to a peaceful acceptance. Callahan's thoughtful perspective notably enhances the legal and moral discussions about end-of-life issues.

Originally published in 1993 by Simon and Schuster.

The co-founder and former president of the Hastings Center, Daniel Callahan is currently the director of international programs there and author of Setting Limits: Medical Goals in an Aging Society, and What Kind of Life? The Limits of Medical Progress (Georgetown University Press).