The Process Of Aging And Dying Today 's Current Society

“They pulled off her clothes and pumped her chest, put a tube in her airway and forced oxygen into her lungs, and tried to see if they could shock her heart back” (Gawande 133). Such contrast comparison and strong words that would impact the readers’ thoughts on how the process of death can vary through different circumstances. After that, he again embraces the benefits of choosing hospice care rather than going to hospital for intensive medical treatments.

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.

Death is one of the most avoided topics because of the finality that comes with it and the fear of the unknown after death. However, there are quite a number of authors such as AtulGawande, Elisabeth Kubler-ross and Ira Byock who have attempted to go ahead and deal with death as a topic and other connected topics.Each of these authors have delved into one of the most revered topics that is death including related topics that come with it such as the dying process itself. Ira Byock’s Dying well: Peace and possibilities at the end of life is a book that looks at the moment prior to death when an individual is terminally sick and is at the point of death. A

Part One: In the documentary "Being Mortal" by Atul Gawande talks about the death of patients and how it 's a surprise to a large amount of the patients. He also explains the fear in the medical field, and as a doctor your suppose to help people and cure them, that you 're supposed to give them a better shot and if it later doesn 't go they way you expected,the doctors start to tell themselves what went wrong or what happen everything was going so well. Gawande talks about how he wants to learn more about how to communicate with patients and telling them that they have a certain weeks, days or months left. For example, He talks about one of his patients that he had, her name was Sarah and had stage 4 lung cancer was young and just had a

The Dying of the Light is an article by Dr. Craig Bowron that captures the controversy surrounding the role of medication in prolonging life. The author describes that many medical advancements have become a burden to particularly elderly patients who in most instances are ready to embrace the reality of death. Dr. Bowron believes that dying in these modern times has become a tiring and unnatural process. “Everyone wants to grow old and die in his or her sleep, but the truth is most of us will die in pieces,” Bowron notes (Bowron). The article does not advocate for euthanasia or the management of health care costs due to terminal or chronic illness. Bowron faults humanity for not embracing life and death with dignity as it was in the past.

This research explores the literature across cultures on death and dying in order to highlight the impact of culture on reactions to death and the dying process. A theoretical framework is established, using Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’s five stages of dying, followed by a succinct discussion of the reactions and attitudes toward death and the dying process of four cultures (Buddhist, Hindu, Native American and American). By illustrating the different reactions and attitudes toward death of these cultures, it is revealed that through increased cultural understanding health care workers can provide more personalized care to the dying.

The next few themes of this article include the discussion of pain, loss of pleasure in life, and the right time to die. The carers felt responsible to prevent their loved ones from experiencing pain and suffering all of their later years of life. They stated that caring for someone they loved with dementia that was extremely unhappy with their quality of life brought up ideas of assisted suicide. They exclaimed that seeing their patient disintegrate in quality of life and in overall health that it was difficult to not consider assisted suicide. Several participants came to a conclusion that their relative was strictly waiting to die because they had suffered enough which made them want to end the pain for them.

Furthermore, these presumptions were not entirely correct. Although, my patients were in their late 70s, with limited mobility, reduced cognizance, and from lower socioeconomical class backgrounds, I did not contemplate the actual humanistic qualities of my patients. I completely neglected to acknowledge the unique lives I was about to enter. Alternatively, looking back with some disappointment, I was not able to conduct a deep, meaningful conversation about the implications of death. I predicted I would discuss different views of death and dying, but this subject is much more personal than I imagined. In conjunction, I did not encounter a bitter attitude from my patients, as I predicted. However, both my patients’ conditions determined their willingness to engage upon each visit. Sometimes patients were too tired to hold a conversation, often overwhelmed by questions about their lives. During one visit I asked my patient about his hobbies when he was younger. He proceeded to discuss the wonderful recreational vehicle cross-country trips he and his wife would take. This led to sorrow about the loss of his wife, dog, and inability to conduct the trips in the future. Aside from the unpredictable interactions themselves, I did not forecast how my patient’s conditions would dictate our visits together.

Atul Gawande is a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a well-known writer in the New York Times, a public health innovator and most relevantly the author of Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End. Being Mortal has many messages being conveyed to the readers with the most important being our story to tell at the end of life. Everyone’s life will end, some will go too soon and some will live a long life. No matter how long a life lasts, we all want to be able to say we’ve done something with our lives, a meaningful story to tell. In this book, Gawande describes one of the most challenging parts of his career in medicine.

The goal of a research paper is to obtain different views and facts about a certain topic. Aging, death, and dying is an extremely broad topic with ample of books, movies, pieces of art, and even television shows. Edgar Allan Poe 's "For Annie" happens to be one piece that relates to the topic of aging, death, and dying. An analysis opens up the background of Edgar Allan Poe, the meaning of the piece as a whole, and the different views of the piece.

Death and dying are normal topics, yet in our society we have made them such taboo issues for social discussion today. The changing context of dying is associated with old age in our society. The two major factors Hooyman and Kiyak (2011) discusses are technological advances in medicine and the increased life expectancy of the older population Because of technological advances most deaths occurring among the older population today are due to chronic diseases as discussed in earlier papers, and throughout chapter 13. In this chapter, the author further discusses that as times have changed our attitudes to the way described death has changed as well. Instead of the word death, we tend to use euphemisms like:

Obviously, there are some inevitable biological and psychological changes that occur with aging, and because of those changes, older adult may face some challenges. However, ‘aging’ by itself should not be considered as a’ failure or ‘ decline’. Older people can continue living the way they used to and at

Our society finds it difficult to talk about dying and euphemisms are the norm. It is typical for both doctors and patients to be hesitant to initiate a discussion on dying. Focus instead is often more often placed on interventions and actions for managing symptoms. This avoidance can leave patients and their families unprepared for the inevitable death. (Schapira, 2010) It also often results in requests for therapies which may be excessive, costly and even painful in the hopes for a cure. One study demonstrates that when patients are aware that they are terminally ill, the majority are able to reach a state of peacefulness and also exhibit lower levels of distress. (Ray, Block, Friedlander, Zhang, Maciejewski & Prigerson, 2006) It is also important that family members are willing to discuss end-of-life options with their loved ones. According to elderly patients, they are most often the ones who initiate these conversations with their

The sociological aspects of aging are defined by the activities an individual engages in while transitioning to old age. To age well, a person needs to take part in social activities that deal with family or the community. For instance, joining a members club or offering to volunteer in certain activities aid in ageing well. It is, however, important to note that social perspectives of aging are diverse across different cultures. For instance, a 40-year-old individual in the United States may not have similar ageing aspects as a person living in Africa or parts of Europe. Gerontologists have on many occasions provided a number of reasons to explain the essence of aging, yet such perspectives can comprehensively be understood

Throughout the world, death plays a fundamental role, it is unavoidable and everyone will experience it at some point in their lives. In contemporary western societies, death is accepted as such, and is organised for, with people years before their death preparing wills and funerals for when their day finally comes. However, for many, death still comes as a surprise, and most will always try and do anything to prolong their lives and grasp at immortality. Yet this wasn’t always the case, during the Victorian era, whilst people still mourned and grieved, death was an accepted part of life. From the Victorian era to now, death has both changed and stayed the same in many different ways, from the way in which people die, to organising their death, and to the role medicine plays. The quest for immortality has been around for hundreds of years, but in recent years, it has become less of a folktale involving monsters, and instead is becoming far more believable. Whilst immortality will likely not be seen for many generations, if ever, the idea has taken hold that science and modern medicine can prolong life, and death no longer has to be an unavoidable point.