Reviews: Matters of Life and Death: Key Writings

Abstract

The denial of death -- The gift of death -- Ways of dying -- Alive until dead -- How is it possible to die? -- Time and eternity -- What the doctor needs. Eyes -- Words -- Touch -- Patience -- Science and poetry -- Twelve theses on the economy of the dead -- Connections -- The mystery of general practice -- The John Fry Trust Fellowship. Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- The current crisis. Market values and the destruction of vocation -- The conflict between advocacy and distributive justice -- The specious separation of health care and social care -- Health promotion instead of health protection -- Nature of medicine. The nature of illness and disease -- The causes of illness and disease -- The myth of cure -- The search for meaning -- The key roles of general practice. The consultation -- What is needed. Shared history, biography and anthropology -- Words, poetry, and myth -- Partisanship, philosophy and politics -- Time, trust and 'the materialistic mire of market medicine' -- The future.