The publication some months ago of Lord Moran's book, Winston Churchill, The Struggle for Survival—1940-1965, has given rise to a spate of controversy in both the lay and medical press of two continents. Before the matter is forgotten and swept aside by the crowded flux of world events, the book is worthy of sober discussion for it raises issues that are of far-reaching importance to the medical profession, issues that should not be overshadowed by the eminence of the principal actors involved nor by the publicity and sensation-mongering to which the book inevitably gave rise. I firmly believe that this is no idle matter, but one that demands a full confrontation on medical, moral, and social grounds.
The book, aping in its title Sir Winston's flair for dramatic titles of his own books, is the record drawn from a diary and clinical notes kept by Moran of the recurring episodes