Samuel Beckett's "Rockaby": dramatizing the plight of the solitary elderly at life's end The authors review Rockaby, a play by Irish playwright Samuel Beckett, as a study in old age, isolation, and disengagement from life. In the play, an old woman rocks in a chair while a voice narrates her lifelong search for human contact. The play conveys the woman physical and psychological isolation. Aging in contemporary society, quality-of-life issues, the loneliness of the elderly, and how they prepare for death are explored. The authors recommend Rockaby as a source to assist clinicians and other caregivers to appreciate the predicament of solitary elderly persons nearing the end of life and to better understand how to manage the act of dying. Groninger H, Childress MD. Adapted from Perspect Biol Med. 2007 Spring;50(2):260-75. PMID 17468542 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=pubmed Credit: PubMed, developed by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) at the National Library of Medicine (NLM).

Department of Pain Medicine and Palliative Care Beth Israel Medical Center, New York City ©2005 Continuum Health Partners, Inc. www.stoppain.org/palliative_care