The Troubled Dream of Life

by Daniel Callahan

Published 18 January 1996
Modern medicine has discovered a vast array of new and often radical cures and treatments for saving and lengthening lives, but in doing so, has opened a new wound: science has made death more difficult to accept. Drawing on his own experience and on literature, philosophy and medicine, the author offers an insight on how to deal with the rewards of modern medicine without upsetting our equilibrium and perspective on death and dying. He asserts that it is time we respected the natural course and length of human life, argues against euthanasia, and points the reader towards a better and more peaceful understanding of his or her own mortality.