Dying
Patients, healthcare workers, and recently bereaved family members often describe a "good death" in terms of effective choices made in a few areas:
- Assurance of effective pain and symptom management.
- Education about death and its aftermath, especially as it relates to decision-making.
- Completion of any significant goals, such as resolving past conflicts.
People who are terminally ill may not always follow recognizable stages of grief. For example, a person who finds strength in denial may never reach a point of acceptance or accommodation and may react negatively to any statement that threatens this defense mechanism. Other people find comfort in arranging their financial and legal affairs or planning their funerals.
Read more about this topic: Terminal Illness
Famous quotes containing the word dying:
“And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)
“To die is but to leave off dying and do the thing once for all.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)
“Shakespeare is one of the last books one should like to give up, perhaps the one just before the Dying Service in a large Prayer book.”
—Charles Lamb (1775–1834)