Centre for Policy on Ageing



Geronticide — killing the elderly
Author(s)	Mike Brogden
Publisher	Jessica Kingsley, London, 2001
Pages	221 pp
Source	Jessica Kingsley (Publishers) Ltd., 116 Pentonville Road, London N1 9JB. http://www.jkp.com
Keywords	Euthanasia ; Death ; Social ethics ; Crime.
Annotation	The increasing older population poses many economic and ethical questions, one of the most topical and controversial being the debate on euthanasia. This book draws on a variety of historical, contemporary, anthropological and literary sources to consider present-day debates on the sanctity of older people's lives and the question of euthanasia. The author shows that the voluntary or involuntary killing of older people has been a feature of many societies, from the primitive to the present day. Four overlapping approaches are identified: demographic explanations; the political economy perspective (the old as 'non-producers'); the modernisation thesis (e.g. historical accounts around the Poor Law and the workhouse); and bureaucratisation of death in care institutions. The topic of voluntary euthanasia of older people has physician-assisted suicide as the focus. Lastly, the case of Dr Harold Shipman is used to consider how death-hastening processes might be prevented. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-061127002 B
Classmark	CY: CW: TQ: TWA
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing

...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.