title: The transparency of aging.
abstract: This article is not meant to provide answers but to provoke thinking related to the questions we should be asking about the ethical personhood of aging adults. Are we covering over the rich opportunities to learn from their stories with an invisible cloak of transparency? Health care professionals have a moral obligation to rethink the assumptions that underlie their definitions of quality of life in aging. We cannot know what should be done unless we learn to listen to the life stories of aging people. This may even help us to see what is most real.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, College of Health and Human Services, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA. jsorrell@gmu.edu
authors.forename: Jeanne M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Sorrell
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000941:ethics / Q000523:psychology*; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000451:nursing / Q000523:psychology; D001288:Attention / Q000941:ethics; D001364:Awareness / Q000941:ethics; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations / Q000941:ethics; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D012803:Sick Role