Going against the stream

If the twentieth century was marked by the terrible ferocity of war and the marvelous advance of science, it was also marked by people living almost twice as long as in the previous century. This increase in lifespan passed almost unnoticed at first, but in the last ten years the problems of an older population have come home to the Western world. The care they need and the fact that with the increase in age goes an increase in frailty poses many new ethical problems. Can we afford to maintain such a large elderly population? How do you respect the autonomy of the elderly? How much should you strive to keep an eighty-year-old alive? These and many other questions are what this book attempts to face from within a Judaeo-Christian framework. While these questions are very important, there is a need to go beyond practical solutions and look at the inspiration that drives the answers proposed by society today. Is caring for the frail just a professional approach to problems? Are modern attitudes actually destroying the basis of care? Is it necessary to go against the stream?