The University of New England’s Center for Global Humanities has announced speakers for the 2013-2014 year, its fifth year of programming.
The Center is a public forum designed to introduce students and members of the public to the exploration of the great issues facing humanity today in partnership with the Maine Humanities Council, and also through an agreement with Euro-Arab Foundation Institute.
Cary Library will host the streamed lecture and discussion from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Monday Sept. 30. Cary Library will offer pre- and post-lecture discussion around the lecture, focusing on Sherwin B. Nuland, M.D. book, How We Die: Reflections on Life’s Final Chapter. Death in the late 20th and early 21st centuries has been made a medical issue. It occurs more often than not in an atmosphere of ongoing attempts at treatment, neglecting overwhelming evidence of futility that should be evident to patient, families and especially medical attendants. Unwilling for a number of reasons to face reality, physicians carry our entire culture along in their conviction that determination and science can achieve miracles. The result has been a marked increase in end-of-life suffering, disappointment, and cost. That cost has been not only in dollars, but in the spiritual and family considerations that should be part of the end of a life. These matters will be discussed, as will proposals for a solution.
Facilitator will be Kathy Olmstead, editor and publisher of “Echoes”, a quarterly magazine about rural culture. She also writes a biweekly column for Bangor Daily. She will lead a short discussion before the lecture. Afterwards, we will discuss your questions and observations.
Until retirement in 2009, Sherwin B. Nuland, M.D., FACS was clinical professor of surgery at the Yale School of Medicine. He continues to teach bioethics and medical history at the medical school and in Yale College. His book, How We Die, won the National Book Award, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
