This chapter describes that how the American medical profession has publicly stated its norms about the care of the elderly dying. It explores in a preliminary way possible reasons for changes in these norms. The chapter is concerned with the moral aspect of physicians' ideologies. The medical profession sees its work as based on modern science, yet always directed to the solution of practical problems. An indicator of the growing influence of hospital and other administrators' power over doctors is that the proportion of physicians who are salaried employees has grown somewhat between 1963 and 1973. One important indicator of the changing mode of production in health-care is the diffusion of complex biomedical technologies in hospitals. An indicator of the growing influence of hospital and other administrators' power over doctors is that the proportion of physicians who are salaried employees has grown somewhat between 1963 and 1973.