Dying & Death

Definition of Death: In simple words death can be defined as end of the life of a
person .Death can also be defined w.r.t. following different views:

1. Sociocultural View:
a. Customs and expectations in rituals of bereavement and mourning
b. Diversity in the view of death, mourning, and bereavement
2. Legal and Medical:
a. traditional definition of clinical death was a lack of heartbeat and respiration
b. brain death
3. Euthanasia: Euthanasia is the practice of ending life for reasons of mercy
a. Active Euthanasia:
i. Active euthanasia is the deliberate ending of someone’s life
ii. Moral and religious concerns are involved in the issue of active
euthanasia
iii. Physician-assisted suicide has become an increasingly controversial issue
iv. Some states have passed laws specifically making physician-assisted
suicide legal, others have banned it
b. Passive Euthanasia
i. Allowing a person to die by withholding available treatment is called
passive euthanasia
ii. A survey in England showed that caregivers agreed that dementia
patients should not receive treatments when critically ill
iii. Most cases of passive euthanasia end up in court which has asserted that
without advance directives, nourishment cannot be stopped

Definition of Dying: stage before death or connected with the time that someone dies;
gradually ceasing to exist or function.

Stages of Dying:

1. Denial: Shock and disbelief

2. Anger: Hostility and resentment
3. Bargaining: Looking for a way out
4. Depression: No longer able to deny, patients experience sadness and loss
5. Acceptance: Acceptance of the inevitability of death with peace and detachment

HOSPICE Care:
• An alternative to going to a hospital or nursing home during a terminal illness is hospice
care.
• It involves assisting dying people with pain management and a death with dignity
• Emphasizes on quality of life
• The primary goal of hospice is to make the person comfortable and peaceful, not to
delay an inevitable death
• When no treatment or cure is possible, hospice care is requested.
• Views the family and the patient as a unit
• May be inpatient or outpatient
• An emphasis is placed on patient dignity
• Patients show less anxiety and depression