DOCSLIB.ORG

Thanatology: the Study of End of Life Issues PART TWO : the Science and Health Blog

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Thanatology: the Study of End of Life Issues PART TWO : the Science and Health Blog Thanatology: The study of end of life issues PART TWO : The Science and Health Blog ... Page 1 of 4 Login | Manage Account | Mobile | Contact Us | Customer Service | e-Daily site Web Search powered by YAHOO! SEARCH News Sports Business Opinion Entertainment Lifestyles Media Jobs Homes Cars Classified Letters to the Editor Editorials Columnists Perspective Blogs Polls Latest Comments The Observation Post One on One BREAKING NEWS It's official: Bobby Bowden retires as head coach at FSU Thanatology: The study of end of life issues PART TWO The Science and Health Blog by Dr. Allen Malnak Posted September 28, 2009 at 10:25 a.m. Email Discuss Share » Print A A A "Attitude toward Death" from The Teaching of Tecumseh Live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about his religion. Respect others in their views and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and of service to your people. When your time comes to die, be not like those Most Popular whose hearts are filled with fear of death, Viewed Commented Emailed so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again Bonita motorcyclist dead after Sunday in a different way. accident Updated 11/30/2009 at 6:34 p.m. 31 comments Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home. VIDEO: Immokalee employees tied up at gunpoint, $200K stolen Published 11/30/2009 at 7:55 p.m. 11 comments The Dying Process VIDEO: 10 North Naples Middle students suspended for taking part in “kick a Jew day” The dying process usually begins well before death actually occurs. Milestones occur Updated 11/23/2009 at 7:02 p.m. 485 comments along this journey. Because everyone experiences death in their own unique way, not VIDEO: Late-night armed robbery reported everyone will stop at each one. Some may hit only a few while another may stop at at Collier Circle K store each, taking their time along the way. Some may take months to reach their Published 12/1/2009 at 7:02 a.m. 28 comments destination, others will take only days. We’ll discuss what has been found through Police Beat: Nov. 30, 2009 research to be the journey most take, always keeping in mind such a journey is Published 11/30/2009 at 6:10 p.m. 0 comments http://www.naplesnews.com/blogs/science-and-health-blog-dr-allen-malnak/2009/sep/28/e... 12/1/2009 Thanatology: The study of end of life issues PART TWO : The Science and Health Blog ... Page 2 of 4 subject to the traveler taking it. Even marathon runners spread out, varying from Photo Galleries finishing first to dropping out shortly after the race starts. One to Three Months Prior to Death As one begins to accept their mortality and realize death is approaching, they may Collier County Collier County Collier County arrests 11-30- arrests 11-28- arrests 12-01- begin to withdraw from their surroundings, declining visits from friends, neighbors 09 09 09 even family members. They’re beginning to contemplate their life and revisit old memories. Food becomes less appealing as the body begins to slow down. The dying person is Weather sleeping more now and not engaging in activities they once enjoyed. Altered levels of Currently 36-Hour Your Photos body chemistry sometimes produce a mild sense of euphoria. They’re neither hungry nor thirsty and are not suffering in any way by not eating. It is an expected part of the Currently Today journey they have begun. 82° 82° Mostly Cloudy 68° One to Two Weeks Prior to Death Wind: E 9mph Mental Changes: This is the time during the journey that one begins to sleep most of More Weather » the time. Disorientation is common and altered senses of perception can be expected. One may experience delusions and hallucinations, sometimes seeing or Calendar speaking to people that aren’t there. They may pick at the sheets and their clothing in a state of agitation. Their movements and actions may seem aimless and make no DEC DEC DEC BROWSE sense to others. 1 2 3 Physical Changes: The body is having a more difficult time maintaining itself. There TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY MORE are signs that the body may show during this time: Free Diabetes Screenings 10 a.m. Sweetbay - Coconut Road • The body temperature lowers by a degree or more, although fevers may occur. Lecture on squid and octopods 11 a.m. • The blood pressure lowers. Naples Preserve • The pulse becomes irregular and may slow down or speed up. Lecture on squid and octopods 11 a.m. • There may be increased perspiration. Naples Preserve • Skin color changes as circulation becomes diminished. This is often more noticeable Tuesday Night Jazz with Father Al 6 p.m. in the lips and nail beds as they become pale and bluish. and the Jazz Congregation • Breathing changes occur, often becoming more rapid and labored. Congestion may Anthony's on the Blvd., 1303 Del Prado Blvd. Cape Coral, 772.5900 cause a rattling sound and cough. • Speaking decreases and eventual stops altogether. Play: "Dial M for Murder" 8 p.m. Florida Repertory Theatre A Couple of Days to Hours Prior to Death More Events » There may be a surge of energy as they get closer. The patient may even attempt to get out of bed. This is often labeled “terminal restlessness” and perhaps is part of the “flight or fight” response to the dying process. The energy surge, if it occurs, is usually short lived and then the previous signs become more pronounced as death approaches. Breathing becomes more irregular and often slower. “Cheyne-Stokes” breathing, rapid breathes followed by periods of no breathes, may occur. Congestion can increase causing loud, rattled breathing. It’s one reason health professionals sometimes comment, “Better to die dry than wet.” Hands and feet may become blotchy and purplish. This mottling may slowly work its way up the arms and legs. Lips and nail beds are bluish or purple. The person usually becomes unresponsive and may have their eyes open or semi-open but not seeing their surroundings. It is widely accepted that hearing is the last sense to go so it is recommended that loved ones sit with and talk to the dying during this time. Eventually, breathing will cease altogether and the heart stops. Death has occurred. The life journey has ended. The Grieving Process and Dr. Kubler-Ross http://www.naplesnews.com/blogs/science-and-health-blog-dr-allen-malnak/2009/sep/28/e... 12/1/2009 Thanatology: The study of end of life issues PART TWO : The Science and Health Blog ... Page 3 of 4 The grieving process is so complicated, it requires its own lecture. Let me touch on it. You’re all familiar with Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross. In 1969 the Swiss-born psychiatrist conceptualized five stages in facing one’s terminal illness: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Although most grief experts accept the Kübler-Ross stages, they also recognize that these stages occur neither with predictable regularity nor in any set order. Further, the five Kübler-Ross stages are but general reactions to many situations involving loss, not necessarily dying. Seldom does a dying person follow a regular, clearly identifiable series of responses. With some, acceptance may come first, then denial; others may cross over constantly from acceptance to denial. Palliative and Hospice Care This is a natural place to bring up palliative and hospice care briefly. Both are relatively recent concepts that have changed the way health professionals care for the seriously ill and injured. Unfortunately, until recently for many reasons, health professionals underutilized potent pain relieving drugs like morphine, Demerol and Dilaudid. Not only was there fear of causing drug addiction, but a number of physicians and others were arrested and charged with over prescribing pain meds without medical necessity. Not to say some were not guilty of this. There are criminals among all professions, but it did scare many to under prescribe necessary relief. *** Palliative Care The goal of palliative care is to relieve the pain, symptoms and stress of serious illness, whatever the diagnosis or prognosis. It is appropriate for people of any age and at any point in an illness. It can be delivered along with treatments that are meant to cure. Palliative care is typically provided by a team that includes palliative care doctors, nurses and social workers. The team works in partnership with your primary doctor. How does palliative care differ from hospice care? Palliative care is not the same as hospice care. Palliative care may be provided at any time during a person’s illness, even from the time of diagnosis. And, it may be given at the same time as curative treatment. Hospice care always provides palliative care. However, it is focused on terminally ill patients-people who no longer seek treatments to cure, and who are expected to live for about six months or less. Most hospice care is provided with a home care team consisting of physicians, nurses, physical therapists, social workers, chaplains, even massage therapists. Under certain circumstances care may be provided in an inpatient setting like a nursing home or Georgeson House, an inpatient unit of Naples’ Avow Hospice. Emotional and spiritual support is not limited to the patient but is also extended to family members. Hospices have been described as “high person and low technology health care systems.” To be continued: stay tuned Email Discuss Share » Print Recently in The Science and Health Blog by Dr.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Thanatology Graduate Certificate — Online
    Thanatology Graduate Certificate — Online Inspired to learn Required coursework Thanatology is the interdisciplinary and scientific study of the Certificate Core Curriculum (12 credits): dying and grieving process; social attitudes toward death; ritual Course # Course name Credits and memorialization; and the social, spiritual, psychological, and THA 605 Foundations of Thanatology 3 medical aspects of death, dying, loss, and bereavement. THA 615 Bereavement Theory & Practice 3 Marian’s graduate certificate in thanatology assists students in achieving their educational goals while serving the community THA 625 Theological Perspectives in Thanatology 3 in times of need. THA 640 Applied Ethics & the End of Life 3 Designed for students who already hold a master’s degree in Electives (6 credits): another discipline, the graduate certificate curriculum consists of Course # Course name Credits four core curriculum courses (12 credits) and two electives THA 630 Thanatology Research Methods 3 (6 credits) for a total of 18 credits. Courses in the graduate THA 705 Death in the Lives of Children & Teens 3 certificate program may be waived by the program director THA 715 Bereavement after Unnatural Death 3 contingent on equivalent experience or coursework. THA 725 Bereavement Program Development 3 THA 735 Palliative & Hospice Care 3 Inspired to lead THA 745 Spiritual Formation & Thanatology 3 THA 710 Understanding Suicide 3 The program combines rigorous study across the spectrum of THA 720 Children, Teens & Suicide 3 end-of-life studies with content in palliative and hospice care, THA 730 Suicide Prevention & Postvention 3 ethics, spirituality and religion, suicide, suicide prevention, THA 755 Death & the Literary Imagination 3 unnatural death, end-of-life decision-making, communication with service providers and families, program development and assessment, diversity, death education, and a core curriculum grounded in thanatology theory and practice.
    [Show full text]
  • Publication Trends in Thanatology: an Analysis of Leading Journals Joachim Wittkowskia, Kenneth J
    This article was downloaded by: [Robert A. Neimeyer] On: 28 May 2015, At: 15:37 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Death Studies Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/udst20 Publication Trends in Thanatology: An Analysis of Leading Journals Joachim Wittkowskia, Kenneth J. Dokab, Robert A. Neimeyerc & Michael Vallergad a Department of Psychology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany b Department of Gerontology and Thanatology, College of New Rochelle, New Rochelle, New York, USA c Department of Psychology, University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee, USA d Department of Justice Studies, San Jose State University, San Jose, California, USA Published online: 28 May 2015. Click for updates To cite this article: Joachim Wittkowski, Kenneth J. Doka, Robert A. Neimeyer & Michael Vallerga (2015): Publication Trends in Thanatology: An Analysis of Leading Journals, Death Studies, DOI: 10.1080/07481187.2014.1000054 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2014.1000054 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information.
    [Show full text]
  • Thanatology from a Cinematographic Point of View. Death of a Salesman (1985) and L’Amour À Mort (1984) Carla Paola Aparicio Barrenechea Departamento De Salud
    Carla Paola Aparicio Barrenechea J Med Mov 2 (2006): 56-65 JMM Thanatology from a cinematographic point of view. Death of a Salesman (1985) and L’Amour à mort (1984) Carla Paola Aparicio Barrenechea Departamento de Salud. Universidad Salesiana de Bolivia, La Paz (Bolivia) Correspondence: Aparicio Barrenechea Carla Paola Departamento de Salud. Universidad Salesiana de Bolivia, La Paz (Bolivia). e-mail: [email protected] Receieved 27 March 2006: accepted 8 May 2006 Summary It is easy to check the knowledge and advances that thanatology has contributed to society. The cinema, as an art form focused on human beings, provides its own analysis of death. The present article explores human responses to situations deriving from end-of-life issues, the loss of loved ones, types of death, individual-family grieving and other aspects in two representative films: Death of a Salesman (1985) by Wolker Schlöndoff and L’Amour á mort (1984) by Michel Choquet. Keywords: Thanatology, Death, Agony, Attitudes About Death, Suicide, Kleptomania. Caminar a la muerte no es tan fácil y si es duro vivir, morir Study of the field of thanatology is extremely tampoco es menos [Walking towards death is not so easy and complex because human beings are analysed in terms of if life is hard to live, dying is no less hard…] “unknown death” from a psychosocial perspective. Luis Cernuda, from “Como quien espera el alba” The films Death of a Salesman and L’Amour à mort (Love unto Death) merit an analysis owing to their Introduction thanatological elements. The chief aims of thanatology are to under- DEATH OF A SALESMAN stand the loss of human life in its different dimensions and its socio-individual implications, which are partly Technical details natural and partly constructed human experiences.
    [Show full text]
  • Comparative Evolutionary Thanatology of Grief, with Special Reference to Nonhuman Primates
    Comparative Evolutionary Thanatology of Grief, with Special Reference to Nonhuman Primates James R. Anderson Kyoto University Abstract: The impact of the dead on the living is considered from an evolutionary comparative perspective. After a brief review of young children’s developing understanding of the concept of death, the interest of looking at how other species respond to dying and dead individuals is introduced. Solutions to managing dead individuals in social insect communities are described, highlighting evolutionarily ancient, effective behavioral mechanisms that most likely function with no emotional component. I then review examples of responses to dying and dead individuals in nonhuman primates, with particular reference to continued transport and caretaking of dead infants, responses to traumatic deaths in wild populations of monkeys and apes, and a detailed case report of the peaceful death of an old female chimpanzee surrounded by members of her group. The emotional correlates of primates’ reactions to bereavement are discussed, and some suggested evolutionarily shared responses to the dead are proposed. Key words: thanatology, death, dying, emotions, social insects, nonhuman primates, chimpanzees Thanatology can be broadly defined as the study of death and dying, and researchers from a wide range of disciplines are thanatologists. Among others, studies in medicine, biology, psychology, anthropology, palaeontology, sociology and philosophy all contribute new knowledge about the antecedents, causes, and consequences of death (e.g. Exley 2004; Haldane 2007; Klarsfeld et al. 2003; Kübler-Ross 1969; Pettitt 2011; Powner et al. 1996). Concerning people’s understanding of death, psychologists generally agree that the typical human adult’s concept of death comprises at least four sub-concepts or “components” (Speece 1995).
    [Show full text]
  • Sandra L. Bertman, Ph.D., FT Programs of Thanatology, Grief
    Bertman, abbreviated CV, please see http://www.sandrabertman.com for updated presentations, downloadable publications, etc. pp. 1 of 10 Sandra L. Bertman, Ph.D., FT Programs of Thanatology, Grief Dynamics and the Healing Arts 159 Ward Street Studio, Newton, MA 02459 Phone (617) 965-1257; Fax (617) 332-7273 E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.sandrabertman.com Recent Adjunct Appointments/Affiliations: Fellow, Institute for Arts and Health, Lesley University, Cambridge, MA Clinical Associate Professor, Psychiatry, Nova Osteopathic Medicine, FL Faculty, New England AIDS Education & Training Center, MA Distinguished Professor, Thanatology, Palliative Care and Arts, National Ctr. for Death Education (200_—2015) Good Shepherd Community Care Institute, Newton, MA Professor of Community and Family Medicine, Dartmouth Medical School, NH (2008-2012) Education Ph.D., 1988, Psychology of Loss, Medical Humanities, Union Institute, Cincinnati, OH FT, 2006, Fellow in Thanatology, Association Death Education and Counseling LCSW., 1980, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, License 213819 Ed.M., 1964, Boston University, Boston, MA (Honors: Pi Lambda Theta) B.A., 1958, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY Honors, Awards Association for the Behavioral Sciences and Medical Education, Lifetime Achievement Award, 2015 International Workgroup on Death, Dying & Bereavement, Herman Feifel (Lifetime Achievement) Award, 2013 Global Society for Arts & Health (formerly Society for Arts in Healthcare), Janice Palmer (Lifetime Achievement) Award, 2013 Association for Death Education and Counseling, Special Contributions Award, 2012 Ambassador, The Society for Arts in Healthcare, 2012 Distinguished Fellow, The Society for Arts in Healthcare, 2011 Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honor Society, Honorary Membership Induction, 2003 American Academy Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Outstanding Contribution to End-of-Life Care, co-recipient Humanities Award 2001 Bertman, abbreviated CV, please see http://www.sandrabertman.com for updated presentations, downloadable publications, etc.
    [Show full text]
  • REVIEW of the LITERATURE Grief Counseling
    Review of the Literature 1 Running Head: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE Grief counseling: A Review of the Literature Darlene Daneker, Ph. D. and Craig Cashwell, Ph. D. Marshall University Graduate College The University of North Carolina at Greensboro Review of the Literature 2 Grief counseling has grown over the past two decades to become a well respected specialty within the field of counseling. This article examines books, articles, and literature developed by leading agencies in the field. Grief counseling is an interdisciplinary field focusing on the clinical aspects of working with individuals involved in dying and bereavement.. This review of the literature points out that grief counseling is highly specialized and differentiated from other aspects of thanatology. It is rapidly becoming an area of expertise and has a rich depth of literature to support this differentiation Training programs and certification efforts need to be sensitive to the needs of individuals providing clinical services in thanatology to provide educational experiences and training to increase competence in this area. Grief counseling: A Review of the Literature The purpose of this article is to focus on the literature defining one aspect of thanatology, grief counseling or clinical thanatolgy, as differentiated from educational thanatology, medical thanatology, or ethical thanatology. Educational thanatology focuses on the death education aspects of education and increasing public awareness of issues surrounding death and bereavement (DeSpelder, & Strickland, 2002). Medical thanatology may look at the issues surrounding decision of end of life treatment in hospital settings, medical definitions of life and death, as well as improving care for individuals choosing to Review of the Literature 3 die in hospital settings (i.
    [Show full text]
  • Enhancing Existential Thinking Through Death Education: a Qualitative Study Among High School Students
    behavioral sciences Article Enhancing Existential Thinking through Death Education: A Qualitative Study among High School Students Ines Testoni 1 , Lorenza Palazzo 1 , Ciro De Vincenzo 1 and Michael Alexander Wieser 2,* 1 Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Pedagogy and Applied Psychology (FISPPA), University of Padova, 35122 Padova, Italy; [email protected] (I.T.); [email protected] (L.P.); [email protected] (C.D.V.) 2 Department of Psychology, University of Klagenfurt, Universitätsstr, 65-67, 9020 Klagenfurt am Wörthersee, Austria * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +43-463-2700-1636 Received: 20 June 2020; Accepted: 3 July 2020; Published: 7 July 2020 Abstract: The censorship of death-related issues is widespread in contemporary Western culture because the boundary between death and life is substantially managed in medical areas. In the context of Italian educational initiatives, to remove this limitation, 215 high school students in Southern Italy were educated on death through conventional and informal lessons. The students answered a questionnaire with open questions to survey their emotional and reflective experiences. Their answers were qualitatively, thematically analysed to explore how the representation of death can follow a death education course, and if this experience can be managed without harmful effects. The students’ answers narrated how the course reduced their anxiety linked to these themes, on the one hand improving communication between peers by making it more authentic and empathic and, on the other, providing alternative perspectives on life. Indeed, the project offered an opportunity to discuss something strongly heartfelt but rarely faced, and the survey confirmed that the research objectives were fully achieved.
    [Show full text]
  • Beyond Death: Transition and the Afterlife
    Beyond Death: Transition and the Afterlife Dr. Roger J. Woolger ‘He who dies before he dies, does not die when he dies’. Abraham of Santa Clara. ‘Zen has no other secrets than seriously thinking about birth and death’ Takeda Shingen ‘We are not dealing here with irreality. The mundus imaginalis is a world of autonomous forms and images...It is a perfectly real world preserving all the richness and diversity of the sensible world but in a spiritual state’. Henry Corbin By way of introduction I should say that I am a psychotherapist trained in Jungian psychoanalysis and various other modalities and that my current practice uses what is called ‘regression’ to early childhood, past life, inter-life and other transpersonal or ‘spiritual’ experiences. (In other contexts - see below - the word ‘regression’ can equally refer to what shamans call ‘journeying’) But I also hold degrees in the comparative phenomenology of religion, a subject that greatly illuminates the kind of areas that we are here today calling ‘beyond death’. Our starting point today has been the, by now, quite extensive documentation of so-called Near Death Experience (NDE); you have heard the detailed reports discussed by Dr. Fenwick’s and Dr. Powell’s reflections on similar experiences. It will already seem apparent that the scientific paradigm that seeks fully to explain such phenomena in materialistic terms is stretched beyond its limits. Not long ago, I saw a tape of a major British television program where a woman suffered a clinical NDE during an operation and reported, while ‘out of her body’ seeing an instrument in the operating room she could not possibly have seen while in her body and alive.
    [Show full text]
  • AVMA Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals: 2020 Edition*
    AVMA Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals: 2020 Edition* Members of the Panel on Euthanasia Steven Leary, DVM, DACLAM (Chair); Fidelis Pharmaceuticals, High Ridge, Missouri Wendy Underwood, DVM (Vice Chair); Indianapolis, Indiana Raymond Anthony, PhD (Ethicist); University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, Alaska Samuel Cartner, DVM, MPH, PhD, DACLAM (Lead, Laboratory Animals Working Group); University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama Temple Grandin, PhD (Lead, Physical Methods Working Group); Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado Cheryl Greenacre, DVM, DABVP (Lead, Avian Working Group); University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee Sharon Gwaltney-Brant, DVM, PhD, DABVT, DABT (Lead, Noninhaled Agents Working Group); Veterinary Information Network, Mahomet, Illinois Mary Ann McCrackin, DVM, PhD, DACVS, DACLAM (Lead, Companion Animals Working Group); University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia Robert Meyer, DVM, DACVAA (Lead, Inhaled Agents Working Group); Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, Mississippi David Miller, DVM, PhD, DACZM, DACAW (Lead, Reptiles, Zoo and Wildlife Working Group); Loveland, Colorado Jan Shearer, DVM, MS, DACAW (Lead, Animals Farmed for Food and Fiber Working Group); Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa Tracy Turner, DVM, MS, DACVS, DACVSMR (Lead, Equine Working Group); Turner Equine Sports Medicine and Surgery, Stillwater, Minnesota Roy Yanong, VMD (Lead, Aquatics Working Group); University of Florida, Ruskin, Florida AVMA Staff Consultants Cia L. Johnson, DVM, MS, MSc; Director,
    [Show full text]
  • Death Anxiety: an Analysis of an Evolving Concept
    Research and Theory for Nursing Practice: An International Journal, Vol. 23, No. 1, 2009 Death Anxiety: An Analysis of an Evolving Concept Rebecca Helen Lehto, PhD, RN, OCN Michigan State University, East Lansing Karen Farchaus Stein, PhD, RN, FAAN University of Michigan, Ann Arbor This article identifies defining attributes, antecedents, and consequences of the concept of death anxiety using Rodgers (2000) evolutionary method of concept analysis. The literature on death anxiety was systematically reviewed for the years 1980–2007. Articles were summarized and coded. Inductive data analyses resulted in defining attributes (emotion, cognitive, experiential, developmental, sociocultural shaping, and source of motivation), antecedents (stressful environments and the experience of unpredictable circumstances, diagnosis of a life-threatening illness or the experience of a life-threatening event, and experiences with death and dying), and consequences (adaptive and maladaptive presentations). Results are important because little systematic inquiry of death anxiety exists in nursing literature. Keywords: death anxiety; death; nursing; concept analysis Death—unto itself—Exception—Is exempt from Change — Emily Dickinson eath is a powerful human concern that has been conceptualized as a pow- erful motivating force behind much creative expression and philosophic Dinquiry throughout the ages. Leo Tolstoy, renowned 19th-century Russian moral thinker and novelist, aptly illustrated the human challenges in confronting the inevitability of death and the anxiety it provokes as he vividly describes the last three days of Ivan Ilych’s egocentric, seemingly meaningless existence in “The Death of Ivan Ilych.” Included in this tale is a depiction of death as a metaphorical private black sack that the anguished Ivan Ilych struggled against but was driven toward by an imperceptible, resistless power (Tolstoy, 1960).
    [Show full text]
  • EUTHANASIA and HOSPICE -..:: Biomedica
    E:/Biomedica Vol.22 Jan. – Jun. 2006/Bio-4 (A) EUTHANASIA AND HOSPICE KAISER MAHMMOOD Lecturer in Philosophy, GC University, Lahore The decision to end one's life is a very complex issue. Supporters of the right-to-die movement strictly believe in the right of the elderly, terminally ill to control the time, place and manner of their own deaths. The right -to-die organizations, like the Hemlock Society of California suggested legalized euthanasia and where as "euthanasia" refers to the process through which a terminally ill person can be helped to experience a dignified death. Euthanasia can be performed by lethal injection, gas, the removal of life support equipment and the removal of necessary medicine. The humanistic world view see people as autonomous, independent biological entities, whose life's purpose is pleasure and this view sees little value in suffering. But, deciding to end a human life is challenged in almost all religious traditions. Opponents of the right-to-die movement consider the movement an affront to the preservation of life and have labeled it a "death cult" that supports genocide. The end of the twentieth century has observed a remarkable upsurge of interest in the care of dying patients and their families. This is most evident in the work of the hospice movement. Hospice is a Philosophy, not a facility. It is an approach to the giving of care. The hospice concept views death not as a failure but as a normal and natural stage of life, to be approached with dignity. The philosophy of the hospice staff is to "extend the quality of life' when we can't extend the quantity of life.
    [Show full text]
  • Thanatology Under the Perspective of Ethics and Bioethics: a Systematic Review
    Revista Eletrônica Acervo Saúde / Electronic Journal Collection Health | ISSN 2178-2091 Thanatology under the perspective of ethics and bioethics: a systematic review A tanatologia sob a perspectiva da ética e bioética: uma revisão sistemática Tanatología desde la perspectiva de ética y bioética: una revisión sistemática Caroline Pereira Modesto1*, Ana Maria Lima Carneiro de Andrade1, Lucas Tavares Cruz de Albuquerque1, Kevellyn Cruz Aguilera1, Taelis Araujo Granja1, Ana Beatriz Tavares Cruz de Albuquerque2, Géssica Gomes Pereira Modesto3, Wine Suélhi dos Santos4, Cláudio Gleidiston Lima da Silva5, Djailson Ricardo Malheiro6. ABSTRACT Objective: Clarify bioethical dilemmas and introduces the concepts of the various perspectives during the death process: patient with end-stage disease, dysthanasia, passive euthanasia, active euthanasia, assisted suicide, orthotoasia and kalotanasia. Methods: This is a systematic review whose data were extracted from the MEDLINE and BVS databases. In the first mentioned, the descriptors "thanatology" and "ethics" were used using the logical AND operator, which resulted in 45 articles, after refinement the sample registered 04 articles. In the second base, the search was performed with the same descriptors (n = 34), but only 12 were selected. Results: Stands out the concept of death, good death and terminality of life. In addition to exploring the ethical dilemmas, challenges and opportunities presented at death regarding dysthanasia, passive and active euthanasia, assisted suicide, orthopasia and organ transplantation. Final considerations: The conception of death is transformed over time, technological advances have allowed attempts to extend life and the introduction of ethical and bioethical impasses about the end of life. Keywords: Bioethics, Ethics, Death, Thanatology. RESUMO Objetivo: Esclarecer os dilemas bioéticos e apresentar os conceitos das várias perspectivas durante o processo de morte: paciente com doença terminal, distanásia, eutanásia passiva, eutanásia ativa, suicídio assistido, ortotanásia e kalotanasia.
    [Show full text]