In 1969, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross opened a dialogue of debate about death and dying. She accomplished this with her ground breaking book “On Death and Dying.” In 1993, another physician by the name of Sherwin Nuland, continued the dialogue with his popular book “How We Die- Reflections on Life’s Final Chapter.” A comparison of chapter one, On the Fear of Death, from Kübler-Ross’s book, and chapter seven, Accidents, Suicide, and Euthanasia, of Nuland’s book, shows that both Kübler-Ross and Nuland argue for control over the circumstances surrounding a patient’s death. However, while Kübler-Ross advocates for strong patient control, Nuland emphasizes the need for physician and society control.
The sub-title of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’ book describes her audience as doctors, nurses, clergy and the family of dying patients. Because of her target audience the book is written on a more emotional level, citing examples of both positive and negative death experiences. There are no detailed descriptions of what happens to the body as it dies, just discussions of how the dying person might feel and how they might want to experience their last moments of life. Sherwin Nuland takes a much more scientific approach with his book “How We Die”. In chapter seven, Accidents, Suicide and Euthanasia, Nuland describes in great detail the pathophysiology of why a person dies from sepsis and pulmonary infection. His book is targeted more towards the health care professional who is familiar with long drawn out discussions of the pathophysiology of a certain disease process. The choice of target audience by each author correlates to their discussions regarding who controls the death experience. Kübler-Ross argues for patient input and control and so...
... middle of paper ...
...ay’s society, but not without controversy. Especially discussions about a patient’s right to hasten certain death that may be painful or difficult for the patient. Kübler-Ross advocates a balanced approach to patient care: There is attention to the scientific side of healthcare as well as the emotional needs of the patient, and the patient is allowed to be in control. Nuland advocates a more scientific approach to patient care: death is viewed on a more realistic, scientific level and while the emotional needs of the patient are considered, the physician retains the right to decide if the patient is mentally fit enough to make all final decisions.
Works Cited
Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth. On death and dying. New York: Scribner, 1969. 15-23. Print.
Nuland, Sherwin. How we die: Reflections on life's final chapter. New Yord: Vintage Books, 1993. 140-63. Print.
The issue at hand is whether physician-assisted suicide should be legalized for patients who are terminally ill and/or enduring prolonged suffering. In this debate, the choice of terms is central. The most common term, euthanasia, comes from the Greek words meaning "good death." Sidney Hook calls it "voluntary euthanasia," and Daniel C. Maguire calls it "death by choice," but John Leo calls it "cozy little homicides." Eileen Doyle points out the dangers of a popular term, "quality-of-life." The choice of terms may serve to conceal, or to enhance, the basic fact that euthanasia ends a human life. Different authors choose different terms, depending on which side of the issue they are defending.
“Confronting Death: Who Chooses, Who Controls? A dialogue between Dax Cowart and Robert Burt,” Hastings Center Report 28:1 (1998): 14-24.
Everyman a late 15 century best known morality play has the ability not only to present the doctrine of salvation but to impact non-believers (Goldhamer). Elisabeth Kubler-Ross 's , On Death and Dying, argued that people have different perspective towards death (Goldhamer 2). The play allows us to experience the behavior or attitude that a dying person overcomes when their faced with death (Goldhamer 2). The treatment of the play towards the audience is more likely as a sermon that is preached (Pineas 160).
John L McIntosh. (2003) . Handbook of Death and Dying. Volume 1: The Presence of Death. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Reference.
Death remains as one of the greatest mysteries today. Even though dying is a natural part of existence, American culture is unique in the extent to which death is viewed as a taboo topic. Rather than having open discussions, we tend to view death as a feared enemy that can and should be defeated by modern medicine and machines. Many people fear their end of life care, dying, and what will come after death. Society has become institutionalized, therefore most people die in a place with many health professionals. One main controversy over the last few decades are whether or not people should be able to choose when they die with assistance from a physician. Physician assisted suicide is the voluntary termination of one's own life by administration of a lethal substance with the direct or indirect assistance of a physician. Physician-assisted suicide is the practice of providing a competent patient with a prescription for medication for the patient to use with the primary intention of ending his or her own life. There are some people that are strong advocates and others that do not agree at all.
Although death is a major part of life, accepting it can be a difficult thing to do. Dr. Elizabeth Kubler - Ross, an American psychiatrist and psychologist, help discover the series of stages people go through before the reach their death point. These series of stages were known as the Kubler - Ross model. This model was formed by a study on many patients from hospice, the hospice workers and the hospice patients families. These five stages include the feeling of Denial, Ange...
The author recalled a memory from her childhood of the death of a farmer who had fallen from a tree. She described his wishes to die at home and how he quietly arranged his affairs. Then explained how even though she and her siblings were young they were not excluded from helping to prepare his affairs and grieving his passing. She talked about how there was no embalming or covering up his death as we do now. The author is conveying that in the past we allowed people to go about death naturally and allowed children the comfort of grieving with a group and letting them realistically see and understand what happens. The author then contrasts her experiences when she was young to how death is treated today by arguing “ This is great contrast to a society in which death is viewed as taboo, discussion of it is regarded as morbid, and the children are excluded with the presumption and pretext that it would be ‘too much’ for them.”(223) This shows that Kübler-Ross feels that despite the advancements made in medicine how we cope with death is regressed and gone from something natural that happens to something that is seen as a scary thing to be protected from. I can attest to the taboo form of death she describes because from a young age death has been presented to me as something that would rarely happen. When death was finally explained to me it was as someone going to sleep forever. It was only later on when I attended my first funeral that I would question this. The way death is explained to children now does not allow them to learn to cope and grieve as they should. Death is indeed devastating and sad but we must learn to understand it and let go or we will always live in fear. The author and I both share the opinion that death needs to be allowed to be understood completely to fully allow us to cope. When we accept death as it is people
vital functions: the end of life. When people are faced with the reality of their ultimate demise, they
Death and Grieving Imagine that the person you love most in the world dies. How would you cope with the loss? Death and grieving is an agonizing and inevitable part of life. No one is immune from death’s insidious and frigid grip. Individuals vary in their emotional reactions to loss.
Kubler-Ross passionately expresses her empathetic thoughts regarding loneliness and seclusion as related to death. She writes, "our presumed patient has now reached the emergency room. He will be surrounded by nurses, orderlies, interns, residents, and lab technicians, he slowly but surely is beginning to be treated like a thing." Here she certainly reefers to the impersonality demonstrated by friends, family, and caretakers alike during an ailing patient’s last minutes. The ...
Death persists as the great equalizer for all, and every person holds their own right to pass away when they wish. Presently in America, laws protect and grant citizens the right to order when and how they shall die when the circumstances do arise. People can assign now what is called a Do-Not-Resuscitate order (DNR) to exercise their freedom to control their own fate. The DNR order allows each individual his or her inalienable right to control their own fate. In America, all people face the choice of how and when they prefer to pass away, and physicians must respect and grant autonomy to their moribund patients while leaving their own convictions out of the circumstances with respect to the DNR order.
Today, medical interventions have made it possible to save or prolong lives, but should the process of dying be left to nature? (Brogden, 2001). Phrases such as, “killing is always considered murder,” and “while life is present, so is hope” are not enough to contract with the present medical knowledge in the Canadian health care system, which is proficient of giving injured patients a chance to live, which in the past would not have been possible (Brogden, 2001). According to Brogden, a number of economic and ethical questions arise concerning the increasing elderly population. This is the reason why the Canadian society ought to endeavor to come to a decision on what is right and ethical when it comes to facing death. Uhlmann (1998) mentions that individuals’ attitudes towards euthanasia differ. From a utilitarianism point of view – holding that an action is judged as good or bad in relation to the consequence, outcome, or end result that is derived from it, and people choosing actions that will, in a given circumstance, increase the overall good (Lum, 2010) - euthanasia could become a means of health care cost containment, and also, with specific safeguards and in certain circumstances the taking of a human life is merciful and that all of us are entitled to end our lives when we see fit.
The experience of dying depends on the person and the context in which death occurs. Dying alone in pain is a negative way to die while dying comfortably in our own homes or those of our close family members is more positive. Attempts describe the experience and examine the factors involved began with the work of Elizabeth Kubler-Ross (1969). She observed many dying people and suggested that they experienced the stages of denial, anger, bargaining, depression and then acceptance before meeting death. Later work showed that these experiences were not universal and were not really stages at all (Shneidman, 1992) although depression and other emotions are quite common.
I was very excited to take Death and Dying as a college level course. Firstly, because I have always had a huge interest in death, but it coincides with a fear surrounding it. I love the opportunity to write this paper because I can delve into my own experiences and beliefs around death and dying and perhaps really establish a clear personal perspective and how I can relate to others in a professional setting.
We support the right to choose. Every human being has a legitimate interest in his or her own death and manner of dying. We believe in offering the individual some choice in orchestrating that very personal time. For some, that choice will be to accept all possible treatments that modern technology can offer; for others, protecting quality of life before quantity may be the most important element; for others, it may be dying in a way that reflects their living, perhaps retaining some control over the dying process and maybe the time and circumstances of death and, even if it is never used, holding the key to the door marked "Exit." This essay considers a person's right to choose.