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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).
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