Abstract
Professionals in the field of terminal care, and in particular those working in the hospice movement are aware that they take part in an activity which departs radically from accepted past practice, which rejects and criticises the actions and standards of their professional colleagues, which introduces new concepts, new methods and which stands slightly to one side of the mainstream of conventional health care. They are also aware that their approach is itself criticised and frequently misrepresented, partly because its benefits are available only to the few, partly because it is seen as dangerously close to the controversial issue of euthanasia, on which our society has not quite made up its mind. That feeling of being at the cutting edge of thought and practice of having enemies out there but not yet within, produces a sense of pioneering, of enthusiasm and commitment.
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© 1988 Plenum Press, New York
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Illsley, R. (1988). Terminal Care: From a Sociological Perspective. In: Gilmore, A., Gilmore, S. (eds) A Safer Death. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-8359-2_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-8359-2_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
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