Choosing Medical Care in Old Age

Muriel R Gillick Harvard University Press, $23.95, pp 213 ISBN 0674128125

Caring for elderly people raises, in Westernised societies, social and economic issues seemingly unrelated to how much is spent on health care. The United States has as many problems as Britain despite spending twice as much on health in relation to gross national product. There are, of course, major differences in culture and in health care systems, but much of what Muriel Gillick is saying in Choosing Medical Care in Old Age is very familiar to British geriatricians.

The book …