Why Death Is Important

They used a hard vocabulary to contain the terrible softness. Greased they 'd say. Offed, lit up, zapped while zipping. It wasn 't cruelty, just stage presence. They were actors. When someone died, it wasn 't quite dying, because in a curious way, it seemed scripted, and because they had their lines mostly memorized, irony mixed with tragedy, and because they called it by other names, as if to encyst and destroy the reality of death itself. "

When we get older and when we deal with someone else who is nearing death we misunderstand what happens and how to understand the death process, we do not know what to expect and how to handle the process.

Contrary there are some faults to that could come into play with a living will. For instance in the state of Michigan it is not required for a living will to be enforced legally so in the end you wants might not even come into consideration. Another fact is that a physician can decide what is deemed necessary under certain circumstances and go against your wishes not to be resuscitated. Given the circumstances your family members might not agree with you giving up the right the life for the sake of their finical security. Terri Schiavo's family never gave up on her and would have been content to take care of her for the rest of her life. In the advent that a person does not have a living will in place one of your close relatives would be instated to make health care decisions for you. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it might not be entirely what you

Death is inevitable and no one knows what happens after someone dies. Being an organ donor could mean the body of the deceased would be taken away from the family members when they die. But, in a way, the deceased

First of all, everyone should be an organ donor because once you have died there is no need for your organs therefore rather than wasting useful organs they could be used to save another’s life. Statistics show that a single tissue donation can improve lives of 40 people and an organ can save 8. Donating your organs gives others an opportunity for a new life. In addition, after death, they would not be affected in any way with their organs gone and their families wouldn’t have an issue regarding this either because there is no cost. Once a person has deceased, hospitals notify the Organ Procurement Organizations and or Tissue/ Eye banks of death. The organs or tissues then get tested to determine whether the body will accept the organs or not. This step ensures considerably lower risks of the receiving patient’s body rejecting the organ or tissue. Donating

End of life decisions are very important because in some cases people lose the ability to provide informed consent for their medical treatment. If someone was unable to make his or her own health care decisions it becomes the responsibility of his or her designated surrogate. For example when someone is pronounced in a persistent vegetative state their health care surrogate would determine what kind of life prolonging procedures should be provided. During some point throughout a person’s lifetime it’s significant they make a Living Will that lists all of their intentions that will be respected by their family, friends and physicians. I chose to write about this topic because I recently created my own Living Will and had it signed by witnesses and documented incase I become incapacitated to express what treatment I want.

Working Thesis: Organ Donors should be able to have the right to choose if their organs after death will be donated to another without any complications even if they die of brain death or euthanasia, inside or outside a medical facility, as well as laws should be put in place or an alternative method stating that their wishes no matter what the family thinks, due to ethical or moral issues, should be honored.

Death and dying has changed drastically in the past hundred years. In the past, most deaths occurred without warning mostly due to infectious diseases. Back then, medicine could do little to cure illness or extend life (NCBI, 1997). Most deaths occurred in the home surrounded by family. Today, death usually happens to older people following a long-term illness. The dying patient is usually in a hospital or heath care institution of some kind (Carr, 2003). The dying process is now more controlled by the ill patient and their family (Carr, 2003). “The Patient Self Determination Act, passed by Congress in 1990, requires all government-funded health providers to give patients the opportunity to formally articulate their end of life treatment

In Plato’s “Five Dialogues”, Socrates argues what he believes death is and what it will bring, and then urges humans to not fear death and perhaps even embrace it. Though the arguments both aim to dispel the fear of death, only one, the Phaedo, truly provides insight into the meaning of death, the preparation for it, and goes on to expound the human condition. The Phaedo does this in a detailed way by offering a strong argument that provides answers to the questions that these points may raise, such as what death is, how we prepare for it, and how this argument addresses the human condition. The human condition is the sum of the human experience. It includes growth, aspirations, the reality of mortality, emotions, among others. Aspirations for knowledge are found in the human condition, as is facing one’s own mortality. The main focus in this term for the purpose of this argument is “experience”, which is gained through the search for knowledge and is, thus, ultimately the collection of the knowledge that is acquired. I will analyze Socrates’ arguments both from the Apology and the Phaedo through the lens of the human condition to explain why the Phaedo provides more insight into this condition than does the Apology.

In some cases a living will can cease all the ethical dilemmas. A living will allow a person to communicate wishes about their future care when they are not able to communicate verbally anymore. If a person has certain wishes about what medical staff should do in case they go into a coma or go into cardiac arrest. A person may even put

Just as the Supreme Court granted the right to refuse medical treatment, people should be given the legal right to hasten their suffering with the help of the Death with Dignity Act. Opponents argue that given permission to assist in dying more vulnerable patients would be “susceptible to coercion.”

Similarly, a study taken from the International Journal of Older People Nursing shows that that in one-third of the cases, “nursing staff members who were caring for residents who died with dementia reported that they experienced what they perceived as a high emotional burden” (Albers, Block, Stichele 2013). Healthcare workers in another study reported “feelings of guilt” and moral dilemma regarding patient deaths (Dwyer, Hansebo, Andershed, and Ternestedt 2009). In this same study it is important to note that the participants acknowledged that death is accepted as a natural part of the process, however it was the circumstances under which the residents died and the employees employee’s feelings of personal responsibility for meeting individualized needs of the residents that upset the employees the most. Most caretakers enter enters the profession due to a desire help others, and it is inevitable that they form bonds with the residents they care for. This feeling of responsibility coupled with the sheer frequency of experiencing the death of residents they care for can in turn generate depressive symptoms.

In Plato’s Phaedo, Socrates is preparing for his death following his trial in Plato’s Apology. He engages in an discussion with Simmias and Cebes about why death should be important to all philosophers and how one goes about acquiring knowledge. Socrates explains that the pursuit of knowledge, or wisdom, should be the life goal of a philosopher. This explanation hinges on the fact that death makes possible the acquisition of knowledge. However, the issue that I will focus on in this paper is the way Socrates the acquisition of knowledge. He believes that the body is impure, and the soul only acquires knowledge after death in an “In-Between” state when by itself. Simmias and Cebes don’t raise an issue with this explanation; however, I do. Socrates does not definitively prove that the soul is acquiring knowledge during this “In-Between” state, nor does he consider the alternative theory that the soul can acquire knowledge in the body, but consolidates and identifies the truth of this knowledge after death. In this paper, I will investigate this alternative theory and show how it is possible according to Socrates’ standards.

No one wants to die. Even people who want seek their religious salvation after death, do not want to die to get there. Whether you fear it, embrace it, or recognize death as something other than the biological end of your life, death is the destination we all share as no one has ever escaped it. However you feel about death, it’s probably a result of how you’ve been conditioned to the idea of death. What a culture believes happens during and after death, whether there is an afterlife and what that afterlife might be like, morality, and fate greatly shapes how an individual feels and embraces death. Taking a closer look at how some different cultures throughout time such as the ancient Egyptians, the Greeks and Romans, and native American Indians we can see how this universal human experience isn’t so universal outside the biological end of the physical body.

corner that served as his bed. He was a visitor here this week, and yet for