Choosing Medical Care in Old Age

What Kind, How Much, When to Stop

Muriel R. Gillick, M.D.

  • Winner of the 1995 Will Solimene Award for Excellence in Medical Communications, American Medical Writers Association, New England Chapter
Muriel Gillick, a noted physician who specializes in the care of the elderly and in medical ethics, presents a panoply of stories drawn from her clinical experience and develops broad guidelines for medical decision making for the elderly. When are certain procedures too burdensome to be justified? What are unacceptable risks? Should family members serve as exclusive spokespersons for relatives who can no longer speak for themselves? Gillick's bold and personal prescription for medical care for the elderly calls for a change in the way medicine is understood and practiced as well as for changes in the institutions that serve the elderly.
  • A photo of the author

Muriel R. Gillick, M.D. is Associate Professor of Ambulatory Care and Prevention at Harvard Medical School. She is a staff physician for Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, and she is also on the medical staff of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Faulkner Hospital.