The Troubled Dream of Life: Living with Mortality

Modern medicine, according to medical ethicist Callahan ( Setting Limits ), believes that the many advances in biological research and new technology should extend life indefinitely. In clear, unmoralizing terms, and calling on apt literary and philosophical allusions, the author stresses that except for a reasonable desire for a ``tame'' death--which has fueled intense debates about legalization of ``living wills'' and euthanasia--we must relinquish the modern desire for ultimate control over the body's fate in order to prepare for the natural end of the human lifespan. He concludes that despite fears, suffering and high medical costs, if death is ``to make sense,'' we must develop a ``shared communal meaning,'' based on the fact recognized by both science and religion that ``death itself is necessary for life.'' (Aug.)