Download or read book Life, Death and the Elderly written by Margaret Pelling and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2003-10-04 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Debates on policy concerning medical care and social welfare of the elderly become ever more pressing, and many of the assumptions on which they are based are now open to question. This study sets out to provide a historical perspective on the economic, medical, class and gender relations of the elderly, which until now have received relatively little attention. In particular, the position of the elderly is linked to the fundamental issues of health, disability and medical care. With attention currently focused on the setting of the retirement age, community and family care, and pensions, as well as wider debates on the rights of the elderly, this volume aims to supply a historical context for such issues.