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Jane Dwinell, a minister and chaplain, shares stories of death that “teach us how to live.”
British political scientist Robert Blank analyzes the policy issues surrounding the definition of death within the context of technological and social changes.
The author examines the issue of brain death and the removal of organs for transplant purposes from the point of view of various cultures including Canada, the United States, and Japan.
In the United States, the present customs with regard to death, burial, and mourning rituals have been passed down from the Middle Ages.
Medical schools in the United States and United Kingdom are gradually integrating end-of-life issues into their curricula. Overall, the United Kingdom appears to provide more exposure regarding hospice involvement and palliative care.
With baby boomers rapidly aging and swelling the numbers of elderly in the United States population, physicians today and in the future need to be better informed about the needs of the frail elderly. Geriatricians are in short supply, thus medical schools need to encourage this specialty choice.
Daniel Schaefer, a funeral director, encourages parents to talk to children about death. He discusses children’s reactions to death and how to prepare children for attending funerals.
This article examines the evolution and transformation of themes relating to dying and death in children’s literature, using the classic fairy tale “Little Red Riding Hood” to draw trends together.
Children’s reactions to terrorism, war, anthrax, and the perceived loss of safety and protection are discussed. Linda Goldman gives advice about talking to children about terrorism, trauma, and war and what children can do about their fears.
Liza Lister was diagnosed with leukemia at age 4 and died at the age of 6. This child taught others about dying and orchestrated how she wanted to die. Her family and physicians were brave enough to listen as Lisa did the telling.
Practical suggestions are given for understanding and relating to adolescents in times of death, including signs that a teenager may need help, the adult’s role, and acknowledgment of support groups.
This article discusses the leading causes of death (chronic diseases) among the elderly toward the end of the twentieth century and observes trend patterns over the past two decades. Projections are made toward future breakthroughs in technological advances, public health initiatives, and social changes that may increase length of life.
The authors distinguish between religion and spirituality and discuss how hospice care considers the spiritual and religious dimensions of the dying patient.
A physician discusses his dealings with dying patients and their families in decision-making regarding possible treatments when cancer is diagnosed. He describes the role of oncologists in giving bad news.
A very small percentage of patients can voice advanced directives. This makes the physician’s role more difficult, especially when the patient is unable to make decisions regarding end-of-life care.
This article observes what is happening physically and emotionally to a dying person. It also investigates the critical decisions that must be made by the person or his or her caregivers.
Improving care at the end of life can be of great value for dying people, assuring them of affection and respect, and reducing requests for assistance in dying.
The author, a nurse, talks about what it is like to be dying of cancer.
Though most hospice patients die at home in the United States, 13 percent of hospice enrollees are in nursing homes. Changes in health policy, quality standards, and reimbursement incentives are essential to improve access to palliative care and hospice for nursing home patients, observe the authors.
This article discusses the legality of the Oregon Death With Dignity Act and Attorney General John Ashcroft’s challenge to the law in his attempt to prevent terminal patients of Oregon from exercising their legal right to end their suffering with a physician’s help.
Most of the debate favoring assisted suicide has been led by secular humanists. This article challenges many of the assumptions of those who favor the practice, arguing from a secular humanist perspective. The author says that assisted suicide is not an answer to the problems it seeks to address.
What are the possible responses that a physician can make to a patient who wants to die? This controversial dilemma is presented in the context of compassionate care for suffering and an awareness of the needs of the dying. In the commentary, a medical ethicist disagrees, stating that compassion cannot overrule a moral principle.
Legalized physician-assisted suicide is not a substitute for competent palliative care of the dying. Attention to the emotional, psychological, spiritual, and physical needs of the dying patient is the mark of a good doctor.
Janis Moody contends that the philosophical basis of the active-passive distinction has led to distortions in the law surrounding the issue of euthanasia. The author argues for a reform in nursing practice that will reclassify passive and active euthanasia as life-terminating acts. She further argues that nurses need to have an understanding of the ethical and legal basis of euthanasia to acknowledge and define their possible future role in relation to providing life-terminating acts.
In this article, we follow the actions of Colleen Rice, who, with the assistance of her daughter, ends her life of suffering from cancer. This act of self-deliverance is portrayed as a rational and dignified attempt to bring closure to a life that Rice no longer felt was worth living.
Beliefs about suicide reflect the value of human life in a society. Survivors, while grieving for a suicide victim, may receive severe and negative reactions from the community. Suicide is usually a well-thought-out plan and not an impulsive action.
Best known as the pioneer of the thanatology movement, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross faces her own death in an unexpected manner. She is angry about her inability to die or to hasten her own death. This has caused her to question the meaning of her life’s work with the dying and the thanatology movement.
This article provides an overview of the present practice of funeralization in American society, including traditional and alternative funeral arrangements. The functions of funerals relative to the sociological, psychological, and theological needs of adults and children are also discussed.
Ronald Barrett compares contemporary African American funerals with traditional majority-American and African funeral rites.
A number of religious practices are reviewed in this article demonstrating the commonalities and differences among many religious traditions. Many of the rituals performed at the funeral are closely tied to the religious ideas of the people who perform them.
In this very practical article, Tim Matson helps provide a means for economically planning a funeral. He discusses the entire process and the many options people have to create a funeral that reflects the lives they have lived without wiping out their estates.
In this article, a daughter reflects upon the kindness of her parents in planning their own funerals before their actual deaths. In doing this, there was no need to speculate about her parents’ wishes, and in the process of helping her mother plan, she learned a lot about the lives her parents had lived.
This popular article discusses the personalization of funerals making funerals less about mourning a death than about celebrating a unique life. The article also cautions that however people choose to commemorate their loved ones, they still have to find a way to deal with the loss.
Laura Bennett-Kimble tells her personal story of working in a funeral home and how she developed both an honest sympathy and an emotional distance required by her trade. She discovered that to work as a funeral director she would have to become more callous to death and tragedy. Instead, she decided to release her pent-up emotions and reclaim her humanity by going into another occupation.
This article discusses the seven basic coping strategies related to the bereavement process (shock and denial, disorganization, volatile emotions, guilt, loss and loneliness, relief, and reestablishment) and the four tasks of bereavement (accepting the reality of the loss, experiencing the pain of grief, adjusting to an environment in which the deceased is missing, and the withdrawing of emotional energy and reinvesting it in other relationships).
Kenneth Doka discusses the unique situation of bereaved survivors whose loss is not, or cannot be, openly acknowledged, publicly mourned, or socially supported.
This article enhances and broadens the concept of disenfranchised grief in significant ways as it indicates that there are aspects of most losses that are indeed disenfranchised.
This article is a personal account of a woman who has experienced disenfranchised grief as the surviving spouse in a same-sex relationship. She tells of how she was disinherited and marginalized by her partner’s family and denied her rightful claim to personal belongings, pension, and other benefits that normally go to a surviving spouse.
This article operationalizes complicated mourning and identifies its seven high-risk factors. The author argues that the prevalence of complicated mourning is increasing today due to a number of contemporary sociocultural and technological trends, with problems in both the mental health profession and the field of thanatology that are preventing or interfering with requisite treatment. New treatment policies and models are now mandated for intervention in complicated mourning.
A hospice volunteer discusses his role in grief therapy. He discusses the religious questions asked by grieving family members and how he has discovered that through his ministry of listening, he is able to provide the best answers to the difficult questions raised by the people he serves.
This article provides a very helpful guide for the bereaved in getting through the holidays, one of the most difficult times for grievers.
This article helps with the difficult task of assisting parents to talk about tragedies with their children. The author acknowledges the difficulty of the task while providing some very helpful guidelines that help parents organize the discussion in a way that is helpful to their children.
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