ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author examines technological medicine as a means of managing the dying patient, keeping in mind his previous discussion of technocracy, and underscoring the role of technology in shaping the doctor-patient relationship. In the absence of a patient's physical presence, physicians are personally and professionally free to relate to the process of a patient's dying in ways which are similar to the nature of their relationship to the cadaver in the anatomy lab. One major patterned response of the physician to the process of dying is direct and active technical intervention. Younger physicians are understandably proud and enthusiastic about their achievements, and it is not difficult to see how the technical powers they have amassed can lead them toward a developing sense of omniscience. Passivity in the face of death is inconsistent with the flow of modern values and against the grain of physicians' consciousness.
