In this important and timely collection, some of the best minds in gerontology and bioethics - including Nancy Dubler, Rick Moody, Andrew Achenbaum, Robert Hudson, and Robert Binstock - explore the ethical, social, and political challenges of an aging society. A unique combination of disciplines and perspectives - from economics to nursing, psychology to theology - this valuable synthesis of theory and practice provides frameworks and analyses for considering the ethical issues of both individual and societal aging. The contributors address the major policy challenges of Social Security, Medicare, and prescription drugs as well as ethical issues ranging from individual autonomy to family responsibility to distributive justice. Specific topics covered include end-of-life decision making, family relations across generations, age-based intergenerational policies, and the reform of Social Security. Contributors: W. Andrew Achenbaum, Ph.D., University of Houston; Vern L. Bengtson, Ph.D., University of Southern California; Robert H. Binstock, Ph.D., Case Western Reserve University; Christine E. Bishop, Ph.D., Brandeis University; Thomas R. Cole, Ph.D., University of Texas Medical School at Houston; Peter A. Diamond, Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Nancy Neveloff Dubler, LL.B., Albert Einstein College of Medicine; Msgr. Charles J. Fahey, Fordham University; Lucy Feild, Ph.D., R.N., Partners Human Research Quality Improvement Program; Martha B. Holstein, Ph.D., DePaul University; Robert B. Hudson, Ph.D., Boston University; Eric R. Kingson, Ph.D., Syracuse University; Ronald J. Manheimer, Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Asheville; Kyriakos S. Markides, Ph.D., University of Texas Medical Branch; Daniel C. Marson, J.D., Ph.D., University of Alabama at Birmingham; H. Rick Moody, Ph.D., AARP; Peter R. Orszag, Ph.D., Brookings Institution; Rachel Pruchno, Ph.D., University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey; Norella M. Putney, Ph.D., University of Southern California; Michael A. Smyer, Ph.D., Boston College; Bruce Stuart, Ph.D., University of Maryland, Baltimore; Melanie A. Wakeman, Ph.D., California State University, Los Angeles; Steven P. Wallace, Ph.D., University of California at Los Angeles; John B. Williamson, Ph.D., Boston College.Reviews''Well-written, thoroughly referenced, and provocative. The editors and contributing authors of this volume consist of a cavalcade of national stars in the field of aging and public policy.''Marshall B. Kapp, Southern Illinois University School of Law''An excellent book . . . Will be exceedingly helpful to clinicians and nonclinicians who are involved in the development of public policy.''JAMA''Easily readable and well referenced . . . It is an excellent, well-thought-out resource for where the U.S. is on the issue of gerontology as it relates to ethics and public policy . . . Highly recommended.''Choice''A good survey of many aging society issues.''Future Survey''Some of the individual chapters are superb . . . contains some interesting original material as well as a useful synthesis of the literature . . . There is something in it for almost everyone.''New England Journal of Medicine
""It is a compilation of multiple thought-provoking analyses of the status of elderly and the aging, and includes current and future ramifications.""
