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:
“Just remember, Mr. Potter, that this rabble you’re talking about, they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community.”
—Frances Goodrich (1891–1984)
“Authority forgets a dying king.”
—Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)
“I am renewed by death, thought of my death,
The dry scent of a dying garden in September,
The wind fanning the ash of a low fire.
What I love is near at hand,
Always, in earth and air.”
—Theodore Roethke (1908–1963)