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:
“Grandparents can be role models about areas that may not be significant to young children directly but that can teach them about patience and courage when we are ill, or handicapped by problems of aging. Our attitudes toward retirement, marriage, recreation, even our feelings about death and dying may make much more of an impression than we realize.”
—Eda Le Shan (20th century)
“Authority forgets a dying king.”
—Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)
“the only truth is face to face, the poem whose words become your
mouth
and dying in black and white we fight for what we love, not are”
—Frank O’Hara (1926–1966)