استعرض مصدر The Courage to Be a Geriatrician


The Courage to Be a Geriatrician
James L. Wright, MD, PhD, MATS
Nursing homes can be grim, frightening places to many
who encounter them for the first time. Part of this reaction
may come from the way nursing homes remind us of our
own frailty, the limits of our hopes of never-ending inde-
pendence and self-determination. This essay details one
physician’s struggle to find value in the lives of his nursing
home residents, working against a cultural insistence that
life’s meaning and value depend upon one’s actions and
achievements. Searching for and finding meaning that
transcends the accomplishments and failures of life, that
out-survives a failing mind and body is what allowed this
physician to find the courage to resist his prejudices
against the elderly and infirm. This courage to insist that
life is of sufficient value as is, regardless of human ability,
is what theologian Paul Tillich calls “the courage to be.” 

J Am Geriatr Soc 62:1139–1141, 2014.

Key words: ageism; dependency; dementia; religion; quality of life; long-term care


http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jgs.12837/epdf

[[تصنيف:إشكالية تخصص طب المسنين]]